Joan Jacobson told investigators she was leaving their home when she was shot , The Detroit News reported Thursday. She said she was headed to her car when she saw Richard Harvey.
Liberal Man Faces Multiple Charges After Shooting Pro-Life Grandma Joan Jacobson
A liberal Michigan resident has been charged with shooting 84-year-old Michigan grandma as she was canvassing agaisnt abortion.
Joan Jacobson, a retired nurse, was visiting homes in Lake Odessa, Michigan to pass out literature opposing Proposal 3, which would legalize abortions up to birth in the state. After radical leftist Sharon Harvey got into an argument with Jacobson, her husband Harvey approached Jacobson with a gun and shot her as she was trying to leave the couple’s property.
Harvey has admitted to firing a warning shot at Jacobson before shooting the elderly woman but claims it was an accident. Jacobson and her attorney say that’s completely false.
Now, Harvey was charged Friday with assault with a dangerous weapon, a felony; careless discharge of a firearm causing injury, a high court misdemeanor; and reckless use of a firearm, a misdemeanor. Ionia County Prosecutor Kyle Butler said in a statement. Harvey surrendered to authorities Friday morning and was being held in the county jail. The Michigan state police submitted charging recommendations to the prosecutor’s office, Butler said.
According to a Detroit News report, Harvey is currently being represented by a public defender.
The charge of assault with a dangerous weapon could bring a penalty of up to four years in prison, according to the Michigan State Police. The charge of careless discharge of a firearm causing injury could bring a penalty of up to two years in prison. And the charge of reckless use of a firearm could bring a penalty of up to 90 days behind bars.
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He was arraigned Friday afternoon in district court in Ionia County, according to a statement from the Michigan State Police. Harvey was given a $10,000 bond.
“And the next thing I knew, I heard a shot and I felt some pain,” Jacobson told the newspaper. “I was just stunned. The pain was in my back, and it was very severe.”
“I didn’t want to hurt her or him,” she said of the Harveys.
Meanwhile, in a press release distributed today, Jacobson’s attorney David Kallman says the Right to Life volunteer was intentionally shot during the September 20th incident and that Sharon Harvey was “hostile, belligerent, and antagonistic” when Jacobson came to her door to hand out information.
“She yelled and screamed at Ms. Jacobson and refused to listen to anything she tried to say. Ms. Jacobson, a five-foot tall, 84-year-old, 120 pound, retired nurse, never raised her voice, yelled at Ms. Harvey, or threatened her in any way,” Kallman says.
He said Jacobson began to leave when Mrs. Harvey, who daily posts virulent messages on social media attacking conservatives and promoting abortion, asked her to leave. Kallman said Jacobson never threatened the Harveys, never used her clipboard as a weapon as they contend and was shot “without any provocation.”
“Ms. Jacobson said she was ‘stunned’ upon realizing she had been shot and, fearing for her life, continued to her car and was able to drive to a nearby police station for help,” Kallman added. “She had turned to ask Ms. Harvey to stop yelling at her, and she was shot from the side as the bullet entered the top of her right shoulder and exited out her upper back near her spine.”
“Jacobson believed Richard Harvey intended to shoot her and that he might shoot her again if she did not leave the scene and get help,” he added.
The attorney says the Harveys didn’t even try t help Jacobson once they realized Richard had shot her and he said Sharon Harvey didn’t bother to call 911 for help even though she had a cell phone with her at the time.
“Neither Sharon nor Richard Harvey expressed any concern for Ms. Jacobson, offered her any assistance, or said one word to her after she was shot. Ms. Harvey, who had her cell phone in her hand as she had earlier threatened to call the authorities, made no offer to call 911 after Ms. Jacobson was shot. Ms. Jacobson made it to the police station and was transported to a hospital in Grand Rapids for treatment. She is recovering from her wounds,” he continued.
“There was no justification for shooting Ms. Jacobson,” Kallman said in his statement. “Mr. Harvey admitted firing a warning shot, so he knew the gun was loaded when he pointed it at my client. If it was truly an accident, why did neither of the Harvey’s express any remorse or even offer to assist Ms. Jacobson or call 911 immediately after shooting her? The answer is obvious: it was not an accident and Mr. Harvey should be held accountable.”
No charges had been filed as of Thursday. Michigan State Police are still investigating and the county prosecutor said today he has not yet received any warrants for arrest.
Ionia County Prosecutor Kyle Butler said Thursday that no warrant request had been filed with his office.
“I’ve been in constant discussion with the Michigan State Police and the detective sergeant assigned as the primary investigator on the case since Sept. 20,” Butler told The Associated Press. “I have a pretty decent idea about what is being alleged to have occurred. We’re going to wait until the finer details of the facts of the situation are flushed out a bit more.”
Harvey acknowledged he could face charges.
“It’s always possible,” he said. “I shot somebody. It was an accident.”
Conservative news outlet Daily Wire is not happy that charges are taking so long.
“A man who has admitted to shooting a pro-life canvasser earlier this month is still not facing charges and remains under investigation. But Harvey remains in the clear as of Wednesday,” it said.
“The story is gaining attention in light of the Department of Justice‘s targeting of a pro-life activist and Catholic father of seven Mark Houck, who was arrested at his home in Pennsylvania on Friday by armed FBI argents over an alleged simple assault outside a Planned Parenthood clinic,” it added. “The DOJ has also been sleeping on the dozens of attacks against pro-life pregnancy centers and churches by abortion extremists following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”
Anna Visser, Right to Life of Michigan Communications Director, condemned the shooting.
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“No one should fear violence while peacefully exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech. This 84-year old woman is hardly imposing, standing about 5-feet tall. The idea that shooting this woman is at all excusable is a dangerous claim for Americans across the country who engage in peaceful door-to-door canvassing,” she said.
Visser points out that while Harvey publicly claims the shooting was an “accident,” “Sharon Harvey’s public social media posts raise questions about the motive.”
“Mrs. Harvey’s Facebook page reveals very strong opinions on abortion, the issue the volunteer was canvassing about, and vitriol for prolifers and anyone who disagrees with her. Her extensive history of demonstrated hatred for people who disagree with her draws her account into question,” she said.
Right to Life of Michigan adds:
Why was a gun pulled on an short, 84-year-old lady?
A look through Sharon Harvey’s public posts on her Facebook page is a sad tour of vitriolic rhetoric being repeated day, after day, after day, for years on end. This is a person who believes—like President Biden and Governor Gretchen Whitmer—that people like the victim who see things differently on abortion or other issues are a grave threat to the republic, who if not confronted and stopped will be shipping people off to concentration camps, will forever end democracy, and let women die left and right because of ectopic pregnancies. She believes people like the victim are basically the Taliban.
What could have stayed a heated political discussion that ended peacefully and was totally forgotten years down the road by these ladies instead culminated with pulling a gun on a small, elderly woman and shooting her. This recklessly irresponsible rhetoric must end, and it must end now before more people are harmed.
The campaign of violence and threats against prolife pregnancy centers has come to Michigan and affected our own organization. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been silent about these terrorist activities, except to continue to repeat “fight like hell” to her followers over and over and over. Governor Whitmer has so far been silent about the shooting and attacks on pregnancy centers.
If Governor Whitmer cannot condemn this ongoing campaign of violence or the climate of violent rhetoric she contributes to daily, she should resign in shame as the leader of our state.
Enough is enough.
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