Pro-Life Canvasser Shot, Michigan Man Charged

ODESSA TOWNSHIP, MI — A man is facing criminal charges after police said he shot an elderly woman who was going door-to-door in Lake Odessa to speak against Proposal 3, according to Michigan State Police.

Richard Harvey, 74, was charged with felonious assault, careless discharge of a weapon causing injury and reckless use of a firearm, according to the Ionia County Prosecutors Office. Felonious assault carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison.

Joan Jacobson, 84, of Lake Odessa, was campaigning on Sept. 20 against Proposal 3, which, if approved by Michigan voters, would protect abortion in the state's constitution, when she stopped at the Harvey home, according to Right to Life of Michigan.

Jacobson then got into a "heated conversation" over the proposal and was shot when leaving the home by someone who wasn't part of the conversation, the organization said.

Jacobson then drove herself to a nearby police station, where she was then taken to a hospital for treatment, officials said. She was later released and was recovering from her injuries, officials said.

Harvey, on the other hand, told News 8 that he accidentally shot Jacobson with his .22 caliber rifle while using the gun to try and knock her clipboard away as she argued with his wife.

"I'm thinking she’s going to smack Sharon [his wife] with it," Harvey said. "So without thinking, I went to club it away with the rifle and my finger was still in the trigger guard. It went off and hit her."