By AP
OWOSSO, MI –
A Michigan prosecutor says a man charged with killing an anti-abortion activist and a business owner was out to avenge his mother when he fatally shot the two victims last September.
Jurors in Shiawassee County heard opening statements Monday in the first-degree murder trial of Harlan Drake. James Pouillon was shot four times while clutching a sign with a picture of a dead fetus outside Owosso High, about 30 miles northeast of Lansing. Gravel pit owner Mike Fuoss was shot 17 times in his office.
Assistant Prosecutor Sara Edwards says Drake's mother was upset over Pouillon's presence at the school. She says his mother formerly worked for Fuoss and felt she wasn't treated well. Defense lawyer Robert Ashley says Drake killed the two men but was mentally ill at the time.