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Jury begins deliberations in murder trial of former Michigan police officer

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Jury begins deliberations in murder trial of former Michigan police officer


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Jurors began deliberations Monday over whether a former Michigan police officer could have reasonably feared that he was at risk of great bodily injury or death when he shot and killed 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, over three years ago.

In closing statements Monday morning, prosecutors said videos of a traffic stop show that former Grand Rapids officer Christopher Schurr was not in danger at the time, while defense attorneys argued the same videos show Lyoya had control of Schurr’s Taser, a weapon that discharges small amounts of electricity to incapacitate someone. Schurr, who is white, was charged with second-degree murder and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Jurors have the option to convict Schurr of the lesser charge of manslaughter, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $7,500.

“I hope you’re not getting callous,” Kent County prosecutor Christopher Becker said to the jury in his closing statement. “How many times have you watched this video of another person — Patrick — dying over and over and over again?”

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Jurors watched videos of the shooting — taken from multiple angles on a doorbell camera, body camera, dashboard camera and a bystander’s cellphone — numerous times throughout the trial, sometimes side by side and sometimes frame by frame.

Schurr pulled over a vehicle driven by Lyoya for improper license plates in April 2022 in a residential Grand Rapids neighborhood, roughly 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of Detroit. Video footage shows Schurr struggling to subdue Lyoya as they grappled over the officer’s Taser. Schurr told Lyoya to stop resisting and drop the weapon multiple times throughout the encounter.

While Lyoya was facedown on the ground with Schurr on top of him, the officer took out his gun and shot him once in the back of the head.

Schurr testified last week that he thought Lyoya was going to use the Taser against him.

Referencing photos of the encounter shown to the jury, Becker argued that Lyoya was trying to avoid being shot with the Taser and was attempting to get away from Schurr, rather than harm him. Lyoya never had a tactical advantage over Schurr, Becker said, and did not pose a threat.

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“You can’t take a life without a darn good reason,” Becker said.

Lead defense attorney Matthew Borgula walked jurors through the traffic stop again during his closing, arguing that Schurr performed his duties as a police officer reasonably at each moment.

“He’s doing his job,” Borgula said.

Borgula said Schurr was on Lyoya’s back because he was trying to get the Taser back. He said officers do not have to wait to be injured to use deadly force, referencing testimony from several high-ranking Grand Rapids police officers last week. Schurr was fired from the department shortly after he was charged in 2022.

“Christopher Schurr was at work, and he was faced with the toughest decision of his life in half a second,” Borgula said.

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The fatal shooting prompted weeks of protest in Grand Rapids, and demonstrators on both sides have protested outside of the Kent County courthouse during the trial. Civil rights groups decried the shooting as part of a pattern of aggression perpetuated against Black people in the U.S. by white officers.



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Haslett’s Olivia Stoll advances to Michigan Amateur final four for first time

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Haslett’s Olivia Stoll advances to Michigan Amateur final four for first time


Haslett’s Olivia Stoll is the only first-timer in the Michigan Women’s Amateur final four, which will wrap up on Friday at the Eagle Eye Golf Club in East Lansing.

Stoll, who has graduated from Grand Valley and is working for her father at three family-owned courses, beat Jessica Jolly of Rockford and the University of Nebraska, 4 and 3, in the round of 16, and then held off Bridget Boczar of Canton and Baylor University, 2 and 1.

“I hit the ball a lot better today and I’m starting to get a little more confidence with the driver,” Stoll said.

“I’ve made it to the eight a good amount, but this is one step farther and I have a chance on the last day. It’s going to come down to whoever makes the most putts.”

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Elise Fennell of Caledonia and Illinois State University, Macie Elzinga of Byron Center and Bowling Green State University and Elayna Bowser, a real-estate agent from Dearborn, are the other finalists.

Stoll will play Bowser Friday at 8 a.m., and Fennell will face Elzinga at 8:15. The winners will square off in the afternoon for the title in the 109th edition of the state championship.



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Michigan woman thought she ‘was going to die’ after waking up to fireworks tent fire

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Michigan woman thought she ‘was going to die’ after waking up to fireworks tent fire


WEXFORD COUNTY, MI – Police are investigating a fire that occurred overnight in a fireworks tent in Northern Michigan.

Michigan State Police in Cadillac responded to a parking lot off Mitchell Street in Haring Township at 4:12 a.m. on July 5. Upon arrival, troopers observed the tent on fire, with fireworks actively going off.

WDIV-TV in Detroit published a video showing the incident in Wexford County.

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Michigan-Michigan State rivalry ranked among best in all of college football

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Michigan-Michigan State rivalry ranked among best in all of college football



The annual battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy has been ranked among best rivalries in all of college football

Everyone has their opinions on the top rivalries in college football so where would you rank the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy? Well, one news service considered it one of the best in all of the sport.

The Athletic has released its top 25 rivalries in college football, with the annual battle between Michigan and Michigan State cracking the list. At the top of the rankings were some of the obvious choices of Michigan-Ohio State, Alabama-Auburn, Oklahoma-Texas and Army-Navy, and a little bit further down the list was Michigan-Michigan State at No. 16 in the rankings.

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Michigan-Michigan State came in one spot behind the recently renewed rivalry of Texas-Texas A&M and one spot ahead of Auburn-Georgia. It was also two spots ahead of Michigan-Notre Dame and ranked as the No. 5 inter-Big Ten rivalry.

Check out the complete rankings in the social media post below:

In my opinion (which is of course a little bias), I’d consider Michigan-Michigan State to be higher on this list. It certainly has more hate and passion to it then USC-UCLA and Nebraska-Oklahoma — which doesn’t even get played very often anymore. But still, this does pay solid respect to the annual game that carries a ton of magnitude in the state of Michigan and hopefully on the national level again soon enough.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.





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