May 9, 2025 • 6 mins
The judge in the Christopher Schurr Trial has declared a mistrial. Professor Emeritus at Cooley Law School Lewis Langham joins us to discuss what happens next.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now what that it's officially a mistrial for Christopher Sure
accused and the second degree murdered death Patrick Leoya, as
has been the case throughout the case. On West Michigan's
Morning News, Lewis Langham is back with this Professor Emeritus
at Cooley Law School. Professor, thanks for doing this again today.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's my pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So a lot of us go back to what we
learned from civics about how these things work. Unless you've
been on a jury where there's been a hung jury,
talk to us a little bit about the anatomy of
how we got here and what happens next.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Well, after we successfully picked a jury in this matter
and they heard all the evidence and started their deliberations
over a three day period, they could not reach a
decision one way or another as to whether or not
Officer Christopher Sure was guilty of this crime. So we
move on to that more trial.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
The judge dimisses, dismisses, and thanks of those jurors. How
is it possible I heard from the defense from the
prosecution said they both thought they did a really good job,
meaning presenting their case right. And how is it that
a jury can't make a decision. What could go into
(01:22):
those decisions.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, when you look at what happened, and you look
at all the evidence that all of us have seen
at this point, and recognizing that officer Christopher Schuurer is
the one that's charged with second degree murder, the jury
when they when the jury gets back in the jury room,
they are considering everything, which basically means Patrick Iola's actions
(01:46):
are part of this trial and you can see how
they can. They are back during jury deliberation are considering
how much Patrick Leolia contributed to his own down fall
and whether or not they should hold the officer responsible
for everything that happened. And they could not reach a
(02:09):
decision because either one of those parties had some responsibility
at some point and they couldn't reach a decision on that.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
And to the jury, I guess it's important to point
out too that they get to pick who the jury
is right both sides of the case. They get together
from the pool and decide who they think could possibly
help them and not hurt them.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
How does that process play into this, Well, you only have.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So many peremptory challenges, which means you can eliminate or
excuse I should say jurors from your jury pool. The
prosecutor has the same number as the defense attorney, and
they can excuse so many people and then whatever's left
that will in fact be your jury. Sure, there's other
things that go on, there's challenges for cause and things
(03:00):
to go on where the judge can dismiss certain jurors,
but you do the best job you can. You cannot
read into someone's mind, and what you're really looking for
is a fair jury, a group of people that can
ignore everything they've heard about this case previously and make
their decisions based upon the evidence presented in the courtroom.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Professor Langham, I'm curious about now moving forward. Kent County
Prosecutor Chris Burke Becker saying yesterday that you know, he's
going to take some time, but not too long. He's
going to talk to the jury and some of the
jurors and kind.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Of look at where the situation was in what that
number as far as the final count was right to
decide whether he's going to take this thing to trial
again or not right, And more than likely in a
situation like this, just based upon the evidence, based upon
the actual charges, the prosecutors don't really totally bag down.
(03:54):
But what you may see as a reduction of the charge,
and that's going to be the the prosecutor is going
to decide that maybe second degree murder was too hot.
But based upon what we know, second degree murder and
manslaughter both may have been we're both out of the
jury's decision. They couldn't reach a verdict. There's only one
(04:16):
charge obviously with second degree murder, but the manslaughter charge
was or was a lesser included offense, not a separate charge.
But they couldn't make a decision on those charges whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So could there be outside of this? Will there be
some sort of civil settlement? Did I miss that moving forward?
Meaning a monetary award from what would probably be the
city then to the Theya family.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Well not at this stage. I mean, the civil suit
will probably go on, but you know, and there's a
different standard of review. But as you see what has
happened here, the civil case has not gone to trial
yet and the biggest reason for that is that the
attorney they're waiting we're waiting on and hopefully have would
(05:04):
have received as far as they're concerning that they're representing
the the Leola family, a conviction, and then you take
that conviction and more than likely there won't be a trial,
there will be a settlement. But here, what we have
here is a hung jury. There is no decision that's
been made. So you have a situation where you're looking
at contributory negligence standards, you know, in a civil suit,
(05:28):
looking at both parties and saying, okay, it's one party
more responsible than the other. So even in a civil
suit there's a problem with a verdict being awarded or
damage is being awarded to a plane if in a
civil suit as well, it's this case civilly and criminally
(05:49):
has a long way to go.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
We will get the very latest when we hear it
and bring back our friend, Professor Emeritus at Cooley Law School,
Lewis Langham, Professor, thanks for your time today.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Come take care of them.
Now what that it's officially a mistrial for Christopher Sure
accused and the second degree murdered death Patrick Leoya, as
has been the case throughout the case. On West Michigan's
Morning News, Lewis Langham is back with this Professor Emeritus
at Cooley Law School. Professor, thanks for doing this again today.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's my pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So a lot of us go back to what we
learned from civics about how these things work. Unless you've
been on a jury where there's been a hung jury,
talk to us a little bit about the anatomy of
how we got here and what happens next.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Well, after we successfully picked a jury in this matter
and they heard all the evidence and started their deliberations
over a three day period, they could not reach a
decision one way or another as to whether or not
Officer Christopher Sure was guilty of this crime. So we
move on to that more trial.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
The judge dimisses, dismisses, and thanks of those jurors. How
is it possible I heard from the defense from the
prosecution said they both thought they did a really good job,
meaning presenting their case right. And how is it that
a jury can't make a decision. What could go into
(01:22):
those decisions.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, when you look at what happened, and you look
at all the evidence that all of us have seen
at this point, and recognizing that officer Christopher Schuurer is
the one that's charged with second degree murder, the jury
when they when the jury gets back in the jury room,
they are considering everything, which basically means Patrick Iola's actions
(01:46):
are part of this trial and you can see how
they can. They are back during jury deliberation are considering
how much Patrick Leolia contributed to his own down fall
and whether or not they should hold the officer responsible
for everything that happened. And they could not reach a
(02:09):
decision because either one of those parties had some responsibility
at some point and they couldn't reach a decision on that.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
And to the jury, I guess it's important to point
out too that they get to pick who the jury
is right both sides of the case. They get together
from the pool and decide who they think could possibly
help them and not hurt them.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
How does that process play into this, Well, you only have.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So many peremptory challenges, which means you can eliminate or
excuse I should say jurors from your jury pool. The
prosecutor has the same number as the defense attorney, and
they can excuse so many people and then whatever's left
that will in fact be your jury. Sure, there's other
things that go on, there's challenges for cause and things
(03:00):
to go on where the judge can dismiss certain jurors,
but you do the best job you can. You cannot
read into someone's mind, and what you're really looking for
is a fair jury, a group of people that can
ignore everything they've heard about this case previously and make
their decisions based upon the evidence presented in the courtroom.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Professor Langham, I'm curious about now moving forward. Kent County
Prosecutor Chris Burke Becker saying yesterday that you know, he's
going to take some time, but not too long. He's
going to talk to the jury and some of the
jurors and kind.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Of look at where the situation was in what that
number as far as the final count was right to
decide whether he's going to take this thing to trial
again or not right, And more than likely in a
situation like this, just based upon the evidence, based upon
the actual charges, the prosecutors don't really totally bag down.
(03:54):
But what you may see as a reduction of the charge,
and that's going to be the the prosecutor is going
to decide that maybe second degree murder was too hot.
But based upon what we know, second degree murder and
manslaughter both may have been we're both out of the
jury's decision. They couldn't reach a verdict. There's only one
(04:16):
charge obviously with second degree murder, but the manslaughter charge
was or was a lesser included offense, not a separate charge.
But they couldn't make a decision on those charges whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So could there be outside of this? Will there be
some sort of civil settlement? Did I miss that moving forward?
Meaning a monetary award from what would probably be the
city then to the Theya family.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Well not at this stage. I mean, the civil suit
will probably go on, but you know, and there's a
different standard of review. But as you see what has
happened here, the civil case has not gone to trial
yet and the biggest reason for that is that the
attorney they're waiting we're waiting on and hopefully have would
(05:04):
have received as far as they're concerning that they're representing
the the Leola family, a conviction, and then you take
that conviction and more than likely there won't be a trial,
there will be a settlement. But here, what we have
here is a hung jury. There is no decision that's
been made. So you have a situation where you're looking
at contributory negligence standards, you know, in a civil suit,
(05:28):
looking at both parties and saying, okay, it's one party
more responsible than the other. So even in a civil
suit there's a problem with a verdict being awarded or
damage is being awarded to a plane if in a
civil suit as well, it's this case civilly and criminally
(05:49):
has a long way to go.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
We will get the very latest when we hear it
and bring back our friend, Professor Emeritus at Cooley Law School,
Lewis Langham, Professor, thanks for your time today.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Come take care of them.
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