A man in Ionia, Michigan, has been sentenced to 100 hours of community service after pleading no contest to shooting an 84-year-old woman while she was advocating against abortion.
Richard Harvey, 75, pleaded no contest to charges of felonious assault, careless discharge of a firearm causing injury and reckless discharge of a firearm, 9 and 10 News reported. Harvey will complete the 100 hours of community service and serve one year of probation. If he does not comply with the terms of the arrangement, he will serve 60 days in jail. He is not to have any contact with the woman he shot. (RELATED: Left-Wing Group Behind Proposed Ohio Abortion Amendment Has A Long History Of Opposition To Parent Rights)
Harvey shot the woman, Joan Jacobsen, on September 20 when she came to Harvey’s home to ask a woman there to vote against Prop 3 in Michigan, which made abortion up to 24 weeks a constitutional right. Jacobson was reportedly campaigning against the ballot measure, which passed, as a canvasser for the pro-life organization Right to Life.
“A western Michigan man who pleaded no contest to shooting an 84-year-old woman campaigning against abortion rights at his home was sentenced to community service Tuesday.
Richard Harvey, 75, was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.”https://t.co/y5m9qL4CCC pic.twitter.com/lQbII1pT07
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) May 25, 2023
Harvey says the shooting was accidental, but Jacobson claims that an argument she had with the woman in the house instigated the shooting. Harvey says he fired a warning shot.
Jacobson says she was walking away when Harvey, who was coming out of barn on the property with a gun, shot her.
“I no sooner saw the man when I heard the shot, and I felt pain,” Jacobson said. “I was so stunned. He didn’t say anything to me, she didn’t say anything to me, I didn’t say anything to them.”