Former truck driver Harlan Drake, who on Sept. 11, 2009, killed a man protesting against abortion outside the Owosso, Michigan high school, has been found guilty of murder. Drake was also convicted in the killing the same day of another man, a local business owner.
Abortion foe James Pouillon had for some time conducted a one man protest outside the school, holding a sign depicting an aborted fetus. Drake, who apparently was offended by the graphic nature of the sign, simply decided to kill Pouillon, as well as gravel pit owner Michael Fuoss, whom Drake felt had treated his mother badly when she worked for him. From MLive:
With his fate hanging in the balance, the 34-year-old former truck driver cracked jokes and matter-of-factly described how he gunned down anti-abortion activist James Pouillon and gravel pit owner Michael Fuoss on Sept. 11, 2009.
His only tears came when he talked about a 2004 crash in Iowa that killed two teens — an accident that wasn’t his fault.
Defense attorney Robert Ashley said he will never forget the two days that Drake spent on the stand during his trial for killing two men.
"... his testimony was dripping with mental illness," said Ashley.
Jurors, however, were not swayed by his insanity defense, and under Michigan law, Drake will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole.
Explaining his crime spree, Drake said,
"I just shot one person, I might as well go shoot anyone else I thought deserved to be shot that day," he said.
He said he then drove to Fuoss’ Owosso Township gravel pit, seeking to kill the man who his mother worked for more than 15 years before. Drake said Fuoss, 61, made it difficult for his mother when she tried to start her landscaping yard and mini-storage business.
Drake testified that after he shot Fuoss, he told Fuoss he should be nicer to his employees, and Edwards asked him if Fuoss replied.
"No, he just bled a lot," Drake said.
While Drake did not meet the legal definition of insanity, and had no prior criminal record, he's definitely a disturbed man, who showed no remorse at all for the senseless murder of two human beings. It appears that political ideology played no role in the killings--he simply was offended that kids were able to view the gruesome images on Pouillon's sign. He had by his own account intended to kill yet another man who he felt had wronged his mother, but was unable to find him, and was taken into custody shortly thereafter.