Local news coverage leading up to Schurr’s trial has been influenced by his lawyers, experts, a failure to provide community voices and a pro-GRPD bias

April 27, 2025

tags: Christopher Schurr trial, killing of Patrick Lyoya, local news coverage of Schurr trial, Schurr's lawyers

Since April 8th, I have been documenting all of the news coverage from MLive, WOODTV8, WZZM13 and WXMI17 regarding the upcoming trial of former GRPD officer Christopher Schurr. On April 4th, 2022, Schurr stopped Patrick Lyoya for a auto registration violation, attempted to use a taser on Lyoya and then shot him in the back of the head while sitting on top of Lyoya.

On the 3rd anniversary of Patrick Lyoya’s death, I wrote an article, which included links to every story from the same 4 local daily commercial news agencies list above, specifically regarding their coverage since Schurr killed Lyoya in April of 2022. Today, I want to look at the local news coverage that has happened in the past 2 weeks leading up to the trial which begins this Monday.

There are people who have been fighting for justice with the Lyoya family over the past 3 years, and there are those who have unconditionally been supporting the former cop who killed Lyoya. Those supporting the Lyoya family are community-based and are multiracial. Those defending Schurr are primarily the police union, individuals and entities that are apologists for the GRPD. What I am interested in are those who might still be undecided, but could be influenced by how the local news has been reporting on this matter leading up to the trial.

The 4 local daily commercial news agencies that I have been tracking have in the past 2 weeks spent a great deal of time reporting on the upcoming trial for ex-cop Christopher Schurr. I want to look at the number of stories, who may have initiated the coverage, the sources used, the omissions and what narratives these stories have created.

Amount of local news coverage

The number of stories varies regarding the coverage for the upcoming trial of Christopher Schurr, but the amount of stories reflects the larger political tension that exists in Grand Rapids over those that unconditionally support the GRPD and those who have been calling for greater police accountability, the defunding of the GRPD, even the abolition of policing. At the end of this post, I am including a link to all 46 stories that the 4 local news agencies collectively ran in the past two weeks.

MLive – 24 stories

WOODTV8 – 8 stories

WZZM 13 – 11 stories

WXMI 17 – 3 stories

Who initiated these stories?

Most of the news stories that have been generated over the past 2 weeks regarding the upcoming trial of Christopher Schurr for killing Patrick Lyoya has either been about the just selection and process or stories that came from either the legal team defending Schurr or the lawyer representing the Lyoya family. Of the non-jury stories generated, there were ore stories that were initiated by the legal team representing Schurr than there were stories initiated by the lawyer representing the Lyoya family or community groups like the NAACP.

The legal team representing Schurr was definitely on the offensive with their own public statements and Press Releases, with MLive being the primary news agency to generate stories based on Schurr’s legal team. Here are several examples from MLive:

Former Grand Rapids officer’s state of mind, not Patrick Lyoya’s, focus of murder trial

Will ex-police officer testify at his own murder trial in Patrick Lyoya’s killing?

Judge bars Taser demonstration at Grand Rapids police officer’s murder trial

Former police officer accused in Lyoya killing wants U.S. Supreme Court to hear civil case

Christopher Schurr’s attorneys experienced in police defense, high-profile cases

Ex-Grand Rapids officer seeks gag order for Patrick Lyoya’s family, attorney in civil case

The lawyer representing the Lyoya family, the Kent County Prosecuting attorney and community groups demanding justice for Patrick Lyoya initiated fewer stories combined compared to the legal team of ex-cop Schurr.

Sources used in the coverage leading up to Schurr’s trial

Considering that there were more stories initiated by the legal team for Schurr, it is no surprise that those lawyers were the primary sources used over the past 2 weeks of coverage. There were just a few times that local news consumers would hear from the lawyer representing the Lyoya family, very fews stories with comments from the Kent County Prosecutor’s office and only 3 times out of 46 stories I tracked during the past 2 weeks where community voices were included.

There were also several stories that included what the news media often referred to as “experts.” Here are some examples:

Police experts clash over Patrick Lyoya’s killing as ex-officer’s trial nears

De-escalation expert explains actions former officer Christopher Schurr took before deadly shooting of Patrick Lyoya

SCHURR TRIAL: What to expect from jury selection to closing arguments

New story omissions and narratives

While there might have been 46 stories created regarding the upcoming trial of Schurr, there have been two things that stand out. First, the local news media missed opportunities to do a deeper dive or investigation into issues like whether or not the racial make up of juries will have any influence in the outcome of this trial. See the recent report, Race and the Jury, from the Equal Justice Initiative.

The local news also could have created stories by talking with people and organizations in the community that have been organizing fund raisers for the Lyoya family, marches, protests, even those who have been arrested by the GRPD for demanding justice for Patrick Lyoya.

Second, most of the 46 stories generated stories over the past two weeks have been recycling the same narratives about the GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya some 3 years ago. This recycling of story narratives is a disservice to the public and it disproportionately reflects a bias that favors the GRPD and how policing is done in Grand Rapids. If I was someone who hadn’t already formed an opinion about what happened the day that Schurr shot Lyoya in the back of the head, I would mostly likely be swayed by the most recent pre-trial coverage.

Lastly, it is worth noting that the way the pre-trial coverage has been done is a microcosm of how the local news reports on the GRPD and the court system in general. For my one year study of local news coverage, see the report, 2024 Local News Monitoring Project.