Michigan man who shot elderly pro-life volunteer ordered to stand trial

Richard Harvey, the Michigan man who shot an 84-year-old pro-life volunteer, has been ordered to stand trial — and the judge has criticized prosecutors for not filing harsher charges against him.

Last month, Joan Jacobson was shot by Harvey while canvassing against Proposal 3, which would make abortion a right within the state constitution. Harvey and his wife, who both support abortion, publicly claimed that Jacobson was behaving in a threatening manner towards them, and that the shooting was accidental.

Jacobson responded by saying that she was trying to leave the Harvey property when she was shot, and that she never behaved in a way indicating that she wanted to hurt them. She said that even as she tried to leave, they followed her, while she told them to leave her alone — and then, she was shot in the back.

URGENT: For every dollar given, 34 more people can be reached with the truth about abortion. Will you join us in this life-saving work as a monthly donor today?

“When that registered in my mind, I heard a shot, I felt some pain, and I thought he had hit me in the back,” she said in a previous interview with the Daily Signal. “I was just in shock. I said to myself, ‘Did I just get shot? Did he just shoot me?’ They didn’t say anything. I didn’t say anything. I just headed back to my car and tried to ascertain if I could drive… I didn’t feel lightheaded or like I was going to pass out or anything. I thought, ‘I gotta get out of here.’”

Now, during a preliminary examination to determine if Harvey should stand trial, new information has emerged — including the 911 call, in which Harvey smeared Jacobson, even after he shot her.

“I didn’t shoot her on purpose,” he told the 911 dispatcher. “She was a right wing nut. I’m sorry I shot her.”

During her testimony, Jacobson explained what had happened between herself and the Harveys:

She got very angry and we had an exchange for about three to four minutes. The only thing I said to her was did she know it was going to amend the state Constitution? And she said she didn’t care. She was very upset, very agitated about it. She said, ‘you don’t have a right to be here, get off my porch, get off my property.’ I said ‘I do have a right to come and talk to you.’ I could be the mailman or the FedEx man. I wasn’t breaking any laws just coming to talk to her.

Then I got off the porch and started walking back to my car. She was yelling at me as I was going down the sidewalk. I did ask her to stop yelling at me. She was behind me and then all of a sudden I realized she was very close to me in the grass while I was on the sidewalk. She was on her cellphone and she was saying she was going to call the police. I was thinking to myself, ‘call the police, I’m not doing anything wrong.’

I turned and looked to see where she was and then I saw there was a man standing beside her. It just happened so fast. I saw he had a gun, it was a long barrel. By the time it registered in my brain that there was a man with a gun, I heard a shot and I felt the pain. I said to myself, ‘did he shoot me?’ I was just in shock and I just started proceeding to get to my car, which was not too far away at that time.”

Judge Raymond Voet ordered Harvey to stand trial on all four charges against him: assault with a dangerous weapon (felonious assault with a rifle); weapons firearms careless discharge causing injury; and weapons firearms reckless use. He also questioned why the charges weren’t more serious, considering Jacobson’s small stature, and the seriousness of her injury.

“It’s clear to me that Mr. Harvey did fire a warning shot to send a message to Ms. Jacobson, and then he also shot her,” Voet said. “Thankfully he didn’t kill or paralyze her considering how close it was to her spine. We’re lucky that no one was more seriously hurt. The court could ask why there isn’t a felony firearm charge as well, but that’s not my business.”

Harvey will now be arraigned in circuit court at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, before Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger.