Leftist who 'accidentally' shot elderly pro-life woman will NOT serve jail time

A Michigan man will not serve jail time even though he admitted he shot an elderly woman in the shoulder last fall.

On September 20, 75-year-old Richard Harvey was in his barn in Odessa Township, a rural area about halfway between Lansing and Grand Rapids, when he overheard his wife, Sharon Harvey, arguing with someone. When he arrived at his house, he saw Sharon ordering Joan Jacobson, an 84-year-old retired nurse, to leave the couple's property. "You need to go. Just go," Sharon Harvey recalled telling Jacobson. " ... You need to go now. Get off my property."

Jacobson had visited the Harveys' residence to speak out against Proposal 3, a proposal which ended up passing overwhelmingly less than two months later, thus enshrining abortion until birth into the state constitution. Jacobson and the Harveys did not know one another prior to that meeting and clearly disagreed on the abortion issue. Sharon Harvey said she told Jacobson she firmly intended to vote in favor of the pro-abortion proposal because, if it failed to pass, "women are going to die." Sharon Harvey also frequently posts pro-Democrat and pro-abortion remarks and memes on her Facebook account.

Both the Harveys and Jacobson offered conflicting stories about what happened immediately after Sharon ordered Jacobson to leave. Jacobson insisted she complied peacefully with the request and turned to return to her vehicle, but Sharon claimed that Jacobson stayed put and asserted that she had "a right to be here."

Richard Harvey claimed that he saw Jacobson wielding a clipboard like a weapon, threatening to strike his wife. With a .22-caliber rifle in his hand, he said he attempted "to club" the clipboard away from Jacobson but that he had inadvertently kept his finger on the trigger, so that when he gestured with the gun, he "accidentally" shot Jacobson.

Jacobson was shot in the right shoulder, and the bullet exited out her back, narrowly missing her spine. Despite the injury, she had the wherewithal to drive her vehicle to a nearby police station, where emergency personnel then transported her to a hospital in Grand Rapids. She has since recovered from her injuries.

Sharon Harvey had called 911 just after Jacobson was shot. On the call, Sharon repeated that her husband had simply "nicked" the elderly lady with his gun. When the dispatcher asked Sharon to clarify what she meant, Sharon eventually admitted that her husband had shot "at" Jacobson and "scraped her," causing the woman to bleed "just a little bit."

Richard Harvey eventually spoke to the dispatcher as well. He confessed that he had shot Jacobson, but not "on purpose." He later described Jacobson as a "right-wing nut," though he later stated he was "sorry" that he "shot her."

Last month, Richard Harvey pled no contest to felonious assault, careless discharge of a firearm causing injury, and reckless discharge of a firearm. On Tuesday, Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger gave him a suspended sentence of two months and a delayed sentence of one year on probation. Mr. Harvey has also been ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, pay $347.19 in restitution, and avoid further contact with Jacobson.

"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," said a statement from Jacobson's attorney, David Kallman. "... There was no justification for shooting Ms. Jacobson."

‘It was an accident’www.woodtv.com

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