Jury begins deliberations in murder trial of former Michigan police officer

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — 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?"

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.

“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.

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.

Defense attorney Matthew Borgula listens as Judge Christina Mims addresses the courtroom during the fourth day of trial for former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr, who is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, during a traffic stop, at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thursday, May 1 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker cross-examines David Siver, GRPD Capt., as he testifies during the fourth day of trial for former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr, who is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, during a traffic stop, at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Civil-rights attorney Ben Crump holds a press conference with friends and family of Patrick Lyoya after former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr testified during the fifth day of his trial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Body worn camera footage showing former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr with a Taser7 and Patrick Lyoya is shown during the third day at the Kent County Courthouse with his wife Brandey in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr sits in court during the second day of his trial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Schurr is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant during a traffic stop on April 4, 2022. (WOOD-TV via AP, Pool)

SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112960386/en/

Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.

This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.

Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.

“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”

The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:

“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”

About Availity

Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Abridge

Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.

Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.

Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation