Murder of Jim Pouillon

Last updated

The murder of Jim Pouillon occurred on September 11, 2009. Activist James Pouillon and businessman Michael Fuoss were each shot by the same killer, at separate locations. Pouillon was killed while protesting against abortion in front of Owosso High School in Owosso, Michigan, evidently the first time someone had been murdered while doing so. Police arrested Harlan James Drake and charged him with both crimes. Drake was later convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, and was subsequently sentenced to two life sentences.

Contents

Background

Jim Pouillon was a well-known Michigan activist and member of Operation Save America. [1] An elderly man dependent on an oxygen tank to breathe, he had been protesting against abortion since 1988. [2] On the day he was shot, Pouillon was leading a protest across the street from Owosso High School in Owosso, Michigan. [1]

Shooting and arrest

During the protest, Pouillon was shot at 7:20 a.m. EDT by a gunman in a passing vehicle. One witness recorded the vehicle's license plate number. Meanwhile, police were alerted to another murder, of businessman Michael Fuoss at a gravel business he owned. An hour after Pouillon's shooting, police located and arrested the owner of the vehicle, Harlan James Drake. Drake indicated he had shot both victims. [1]

Pouillon's murder was evidently the first time an activist had ever been killed while protesting against abortion. [3] Authorities said Fuoss was not connected to the anti-abortion movement. [3] Police said Drake was offended by anti-abortion material that Pouillon had displayed across from the school for the previous week. [1] A Center for Reproductive Rights spokesperson said the shooting did not seem to be tied to the abortion debate and that Drake was not an abortion-rights activist. [3] Drake said that he killed Pouillon because Drake and Drake's mother were offended by the fact that Pouillon was displaying a bloody, gory sign near a school where children could see it. [4]

Trial

While in custody awaiting trial, Drake attempted suicide by breaking a TV and using the broken glass to cut his wrists. [5] Before the trial, Drake said he shot Pouillon because Drake's mother and nieces were upset by Pouillon's graphic sign, which Drake felt should not be displayed near children. [6] In 2004, Drake was involved — but not legally responsible — in a motor-vehicle accident that killed two teenagers. Drake's attorney, Robert Ashley, argued that Drake suffered from depression stemming from the crash and was therefore mentally incompetent at the time of the murders. [7] On September 30, 2009 Drake was deemed incompetent to stand trial and was remanded into the custody of the Michigan Department of Mental Health. [8] Drake was later declared fit to stand trial. Drake testified about how he committed the murder, and even cracked jokes during his testimony. His testimony proved to be very damaging to his case. [9] On March 11, 2010, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on both counts of first-degree murder. [10]

On April 22, 2010, Drake received life imprisonment and expressed remorse for the pain caused to the families. [11] Drake himself said he should go to jail forever. [12]

Responses

Several anti-abortion groups and leaders have deemed Pouillon a martyr. [13] [14] Lori Lamerand, president of Planned Parenthood East Central Michigan, stated the killing was tragic and expressed concerns that people would retaliate. [15] President Barack Obama has called the killing "deplorable" and stated that, "whichever side of a public debate you're on, violence is never the right answer." [16] Pouillon's funeral was held at the Owosso High School football stadium. [17]

Poullion's family gave conflicting descriptions of him. His daughter Mary Jo Pouillon said of him, "He didn't want to hurt anyone that hadn't hurt him or his family," adding, "They're talking about the babies today. That's what he'd say." She sang in a memorial service that drew anti-abortion activists from across the country. [2] [18] His estranged son Dr. James M. Pouillon wrote, "It will be impossible for some to believe, but my dad really didn't care about abortion. He did this to stalk, harass, terrorize, scream at, threaten, frighten, and verbally abuse women ... He was at the high school because my niece was there, and female family members were always his favorite targets." [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swartz Creek, Michigan</span> City in Michigan, United States

Swartz Creek is a city in Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 5,897 at the 2020 census. The city is a suburb of Flint and has incorporated land formerly within Flint Charter Township, Gaines Township, and Clayton Township, but is administratively autonomous from all three.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Glickman</span> American businessman and politician

Daniel Robert Glickman is an American politician, lawyer, lobbyist, and nonprofit leader. He served as the United States secretary of agriculture from 1995 until 2001 in the Clinton administration. He previously represented Kansas's 4th congressional district as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives for 18 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Charles Kopp</span> American convicted murderer

James Charles Kopp is an American who was convicted in 2003 for the 1998 sniper-style murder of Barnett Slepian, an American physician from Amherst, New York who performed abortions. Prior to his capture, Kopp was on the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. On June 7, 1999, he had become the 455th fugitive placed on the list by the FBI. He was affiliated with the militant Roman Catholic anti-abortion group known as The Lambs of Christ.

Anti-abortion violence is violence committed against individuals and organizations that perform abortions or provide abortion counseling. Incidents of violence have included destruction of property, including vandalism; crimes against people, including kidnapping, stalking, assault, attempted murder, and murder; and crimes affecting both people and property, as well as arson and terrorism, such as bombings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of David Gunn</span> Anti-abortion murder in Tennessee

On March 10, 1993, Dr. David Gunn was fatally shot by anti-abortion extremist Michael Frederick Griffin in Pensacola, Florida. It was the first documented killing of an obstetrics and gynaecology doctor where the stated intention of the perpetrator was to prevent a doctor from providing abortion care in an act of anti-abortion violence in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Snyder</span> American politician and business executive

Richard Dale Snyder is an American business executive, venture capitalist, attorney, accountant, and politician who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Tiller</span> American physician (1941–2009)

George Richard Tiller was an American physician from Wichita, Kansas. He gained national attention as the medical director of Women's Health Care Services, which, at the time, was one of only three abortion clinics nationwide that provided late-term abortions.

Rachelle Ranae "Shelley" Shannon is an American anti-abortion extremist who was convicted in a Kansas state court for the attempted murder of George Tiller by shooting him in his car in Wichita, Kansas in 1993. She was also convicted in U.S. federal court for ten attacks at abortion clinics using arson or acid. At her sentencing in U.S. District Court in 1995, the presiding judge described Shannon as a terrorist and agreed with prosecutors that she was a threat even from behind bars. She served her sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Waseca, Minnesota and was released in November 2018.

John C. Salvi III was an anti-abortion extremist who carried out fatal shootings at two abortion facilities in Brookline, Massachusetts on December 30, 1994. The shootings killed two and wounded five. An insanity defense at his trial was not successful and he was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He died in 1996 in what was officially ruled a suicide in his jail cell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seth Privacky</span> American mass murderer (1980-2010)

Seth Stephen Privacky was an American mass murderer from Muskegon, Michigan. He shot and killed his parents, brother, his brother's girlfriend, and his grandfather on November 29, 1998, at the age of 18. He pled no contest and was convicted of five counts each of first-degree murder and felony firearm charges. A friend was charged with helping Privacky dispose of the weapon and being an accessory to the crime, but was acquitted. Privacky was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was shot and killed during a failed prison escape attempt with two other inmates at Kinross Correctional Facility on July 15, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of George Tiller</span> 2009 murder in Wichita, Kansas

On May 31, 2009, George Tiller, a physician from Wichita, Kansas, who was nationally known for being one of the few doctors in the United States to perform late terminations of pregnancy, was murdered by Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion extremist. Tiller was killed during a Sunday morning service at his church, Reformation Lutheran Church, where he was serving as an usher. Tiller had previously survived an assassination attempt in 1993 when Shelley Shannon shot him in the arms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Aiyana Jones</span> 2010 police shooting of a child in Detroit

Aiyana Mo'Nay Stanley-Jones was a seven-year-old African-American girl from Detroit's East Side who was shot in the neck and killed by police officer Joseph Weekley during a raid conducted by the Detroit Police Department's Special Response Team. The Team was targeting a suspect in the apartment a floor above Jones' on May 16, 2010. Her death drew national media attention and led U.S. Representative John Conyers to ask U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for a federal investigation into the incident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elias Abuelazam</span> Israeli murder convict (born 1976)

Elias Abuelazam, also known as Elias Abullazam, is an Israeli convicted murderer, and a suspect of serial killings and stabbings with a racial motive. He is suspected in a string of eighteen stabbing attacks from May to August 2010 which resulted in five deaths. Most of the alleged attacks occurred in Genesee County, Michigan. Five stabbings occurred elsewhere: three in Leesburg, Virginia, one in Toledo, Ohio, and one in his native home in Ramla, Israel. All of his alleged victims were described as "small framed" men, most of them African Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Dawn Magyar</span> American murder case

Dawn Lee Swan Magyar was found murdered in March 1973, in a wooded area in Chapin, Michigan. She had been reported missing since January 27, 1973, from her home in Chesaning, Michigan. Believed to have been abducted from a shopping center in nearby Owosso, she was found to have been raped and shot three times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Edwin Richards</span> American journalist

James Edwin Richards, also known as Jim Richards,, was an American citizen journalist, editor and publisher of Neighborhood News, a weekly e-mail newsletter, that reported on crime in Venice, California. Richards was murdered at his Oakwood neighborhood home, one convicted assailant was sentenced to 16 years in prison, and the anniversary of his death is honored by locals.

Crime in Flint, Michigan, has been a serious issue for more than a decade. Since the late-2000s, Flint has consistently ranked among the most violent cities in the United States. Law enforcement in Flint is primarily the responsibility of the Flint Police Department, which is often assisted by the Genesee County Sheriff's Department and the Michigan State Police, which maintains a post in adjacent Flint Township that serves all of Genesee County, as well as the Genesee County Parks and Recreation Commission Police and the campus police departments of the University of Michigan–Flint, Kettering University, and Mott Community College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bishop International Airport attack</span> 2017 stabbing in Flint, Michigan, US

On June 21, 2017, Airport Police Lieutenant Jeff Neville was stabbed in the neck at Bishop International Airport in the city of Flint, Michigan, in the United States. The assailant, Amor Ftouhi, yelled, "Allahu akbar" during the attack. Ftouhi was travelling on a Canadian passport. Numerous law enforcement agencies responded and the airport was evacuated. Bomb sniffing dogs searched the evacuated airport for evidence of a larger-scale attack, but found nothing. Ftouhi was charged with committing violence at an international airport and interfering with airport security. He was later charged with committing an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries. He was found guilty of all three charges in November 2018, and was sentenced to life in federal prison in April 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Floyd protests in Michigan</span> Protests in Michigan caused by the murder of George Floyd

This is a list of protests that took place in Michigan in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Patrick Lyoya</span> 2022 police killing in Michigan

On April 4, 2022, Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old resident of Grand Rapids, was fatally shot by Officer Christopher Schurr of the Grand Rapids Police Department during a scuffle between the two in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. After Lyoya began to flee the scene, Schurr attempted to detain him, unsuccessfully fired a taser at Lyoya, and then Lyoyaa attempted to disarm Officer Schurr of the weapon. Utimately, Lyoya was successful in disarming Officer Schurr. Officer Schurr then discharged one round from his firearm.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Police: Shooting suspect offended by anti-abortion material". CNN. 2009-09-11.
  2. 1 2 Damien Cave (September 16, 2009). "Memorial Held for Slain Anti-Abortion protester". New York Times. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Fitzsimmons, Emma (2009-09-11). "Anti-Abortion Protester Slain in Michigan; Suspect in Custody". New York Times .
  4. ↑ "Harlan Drake: 'I don't feel bad about the murders.' : News : MiNBCnews.com". Archived from the original on 2015-01-02. Retrieved 2014-10-11.
  5. ↑ "Suspect in Mich. Murders Attempts Suicide". CBS News. September 14, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Harlan Drake: 'I don't feel bad about the murders.' : News : MiNBCnews.com". Archived from the original on 2015-01-02. Retrieved 2014-10-11.
  7. ↑ The Associated Press (March 2010). "Defense: Harlan Drake was depressed after 2004 crash that killed two teens". MLive.com. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  8. ↑ Chapman, Mary M. (October 1, 2009). "Incompetence Ruling in Killing of Abortion Protester". The New York Times. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  9. ↑ Laura Angus (13 March 2010). "Harlan Drake biggest witness against himself in murder trial". Flint Journal. Mlive.com. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  10. ↑ Laura Angus (12 March 2010). "Harlan Drake found guilty of first-degree murder in Shiawassee County slayings of pro-life activist, business owner". Flint Journal. Mlive.com. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  11. ↑ Detroit Free-Press Archived May 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ Laura Angus (22 April 2010). "Harlan Drake says he deserved to go to jail 'forever' before sentencing in murder trial". Flint Journal. Mlive.com. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  13. ↑ WLNS [ dead link ]
  14. ↑ "Reuters". Reuters. 2009-09-11. Archived from the original on 2009-09-14. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  15. ↑ Paul Sancya (13 September 2009). "MLive". MLive. AP. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  16. ↑ AP Archived September 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ "In Focus: Jim Pouillon". WVCY-TV. 2009-09-25.
  18. ↑ Laura Angus (March 10, 2010). "Daughter of James Pouillon said she was struck by Harlan Drake's lack of remorse". mlive.com. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  19. ↑ [James M. Pouillon criticizes father, slain pro-life activist James L. Pouillon, in online post], Flint Journal , Laura Angus. September 17, 2009, Updated April 04, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.