Christopher Schurr Trial: Jury Deliberations

We are once again joined by Professor Emeritus at Cooley Law School Lewis Langham to discuss the legal process behind jury deliberations. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We waited three years for this trial and it has
big ramifications and Professor emeritus with Cooley Law, Lewis langamis
done a great job putting us in the perspective of
the law. You could have been on this jury. This
is West Michigan's Morning News. Professor, thank you so much
for doing this again today.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
It's my pleasures always.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
So we are in deliberations. Yesterday we had closing arguments.
Talk to us a little bit first and foremost about
where we stand in the process of this trial with
the law as the jury now, we don'nt hear what
they're talking about.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Right, So where we stand now is that, you know,
obviously jury's out deliberating, and whatever verdict they come back with,
that's the verdict. If they come back and Christopherson find
Christopher Sure, officer Christopher Sure not guilty. He's not guilty
and it can never ever be retried again on this
particular case. However, if he's found guilty, the does have

(01:00):
options before them that involved any potential appeals.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
And I guess the judge then, in giving instructions, said
that they have a couple options. Right. He could be
guilty of second degree murder or it might be manslaughter
or it might be not guilty.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
That is correct. The prosecutor has put forth the second
degree murder charge, which is the highest charge, which carries
up to a potential life in prison, and the manslaughter
charge could cover up to fifteen years in prison. And
it's kind of a fallback if the jury, for some reason,

(01:37):
you know, get deadlock on the second degree murder charge,
then they say, okay, let's put that aside. Let's look
at the manslaughter. Can we all agree one way or
another on the manslaughter So it's there as a backup
in case they can't that the prosecutor has put forth.
Because the prosecutor makes that determination whether or not there

(01:58):
it's going to be one charge or a backup charge
such as the manslaugh of charge. That's a prosepcutous determination
to put.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
That forward, Professor Langham. On Friday after our show, Christopher
Sure took to the stand for more than three hours
with the testimony. And I'm curious, how do you think
he did and how impactful is that when you have
that person in this situation on the stand fielding questions
and what his reaction to those are for the jury.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
So anytime you have under most circumstances, the vast majority
of circumstances, when you have a crime that someone's been
charged of an assaulted nature, or in a situation like
this where death occurred, it's almost imperative that the defense
put the their client on the witness stand. Their story

(02:51):
needs to be told and it can only be told
through them. So that's why Christopher Sure ended up taking
the witness stand to tell his side of the story.
The jury really needed to hear from him, to see
how he appeared in front of them, how he speaks,
and all those things, and they need to They're evaluating

(03:11):
him very carefully on his ability to take that witness
stand and answer those questions.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
And when it comes to a decision from the jury,
this is not a two thirds majority, it's not a majority.
Where does the jury have to land with this in
order to go back in front of the judge.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Right, in all criminal trials, it has to be unanimous.
It has to be a twelve to zero in favor
of conviction or a twelve zero verdict in favor of
the descendant not being convicted. If it's a hung jury,

(03:49):
six' six or any number in between ten to two
if it's a hung, jury this trial starts all over
again in two three months down the.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Line it's impossible to guess how long this is going to.
Take but is how long it's going to? Take will
that show us?

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Anything if what, HAPPENS i.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Mean if it comes they come back in an hour
when they open things back, up does that mean? Something
if it takes them the rest of the week to
figure this, out what does it?

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Mean it is hard to figure it out normally when
it comes back very very. Quick it's because it's just
so one sided that the jury has very little to
discuss and to deliberate. On so the longer it takes
it just basically means that they're taking their. Time they
take their jobs very seriously as, jurors and they're taking

(04:41):
their time going over the evidence and over the testimony
of each witness so they can come up with the
right decision in. This so they're doing their job properly
at this. Point for.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Sure we'll let you know as soon as we hear
something will break into any of our. Programming Professor emeretis
At Cooler Law Lewis langamill talk to you. Again thank,
you thank you very.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Much