Tuesday March 9, 2010
Accused Pouillon Murderer: I Don’t Feel Bad
By John Jalsevac
March 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Harlan Drake, the man who stands accused of killing pro-life activist Jim Pouillon as he stood protesting abortion outside a local high school, as well as local gravel pit owner Mike Fuoss, took the stand on Tuesday, where he confessed to killing the two men, and testified that he does not regret having done so, according to Toledoonthemove.com.
“Obviously, I’ve murdered two gentlemen,” he said. He also said that he believes he deserves to be locked up for committing the murders.
Drake also revealed that he first targeted Pouillon because of his pro-life activism, and that he decided to kill Fuoss, against whom he had a grudge, only after he shot Pouillon and realized that he had nothing to lose.
Drake said that after he murdered Pouillon he thought to himself, “I just shot one person. I might as well shoot anybody else that I think might deserve to be shot that day.”
Drake testified that he believes that Fuoss, a former employer of his and his mom’s, had treated his mother badly. “Mike was a bad person and shouldn’t be allowed to continue to do bad things,” he said.
The defense team in the case is seeking an insanity plea, while the prosecution has argued that Drake’s thoughts and actions betray careful premeditation. On Monday Drake had testified about his troubled past, which included being involved in a 2004 car accident in which two teens were killed, as well as a history of depression.
The day before Drake went on his killing rampage, his mother reportedly expressed annoyance with Pouillon’s pro-life activities. Pouillon was a fixture in the town of Owosso. He frequently protested by holding a sign with the pictures of a living baby on one side and an aborted baby on the other. On September 11, 2009, the day he was killed, he was holding this sign outside the Owosso High School.
In response to his mother’s statements on Sept. 10 disapproving of Pouillon’s sign-holding, Drake testified: “Kind of under my breath I said ‘I’ll take care of that tomorrow.'”
“I did not believe that he should be showing the sign to children, especially at a high school where young girls of impressionable age would see that and either be disgusted or scared.”
“The only thought I had was that they didn’t have to see that sign again. I was hoping that he wouldn’t be there that morning.”
Drake clearly described to the court how he killed the pro-life activist: “I grabbed the 45, put it out the window and shot him 3 times.”
He also clearly described killing Fuoss, who he said he shot 17 times: “Mr. Fuoss was coming out of his office. He was yelling at me ‘what the hell do you want?’ I pulled out a .22 semi, and fired once in his chest.”