Missouri governor PARDONS gun-toting St. Louis couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who pled guilty to misdemeanor after BLM protesters trespassed on their property
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Tuesday that he made good on his promise to pardon a couple who gained notoriety for pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters as they marched past the couple's home in a luxury St. Louis enclave last year.
Parson, a Republican, pardoned Mark McCloskey, who pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750, and Patricia McCloskey, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was fined $2,000.
'Mark McCloskey has publicly stated that if he were involved in the same situation, he would have the exact same conduct,' the McCloskeys' lawyer Joel Schwartz said Tuesday. 'He believes that the pardon vindicates that conduct.'
The McCloskeys shot to notoriety last June when they were caught on camera emerging from their home in an upscale neighborhood in Missouri brandishing firearms at protesters marching past.
The couple, both lawyers in their 60s, said they felt threatened by the protesters, who were passing their home on their way to demonstrate in front of the mayor's house nearby in one of hundreds of similar demonstrations around the country after George Floyd's death. The couple also said the group was trespassing on a private street.
Mark McCloskey emerged from his home with an AR-15-style rifle, and Patricia McCloskey waved a semiautomatic pistol, according to the indictment. Photos and cellphone video captured the confrontation, which drew widespread attention and made the couple heroes to some and villains to others. No shots were fired and no one was hurt.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, standing in front their house, confront protesters marching to St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson's house on June 28, 2020
The McCloskeys shot to notoriety last June when they were caught on camera emerging from their home brandishing firearms at protesters marching past
Mark and Patricia McCloskey confront protesters in front of their home last year
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, pardoned the McCloskeys
Special prosecutor Richard Callahan said his investigation determined that the protesters were peaceful.
'There was no evidence that any of them had a weapon and no one I interviewed realized they had ventured onto a private enclave,' Callahan said in a news release after the McCloskeys pleaded guilty.
Mark, who fast became the GOP's poster boy and spoke at August's Republican National Convention in support of Donald Trump, is now running for US Senate.
He was unapologetic after the plea hearing.
'I´d do it again,' he said from the courthouse steps in downtown St. Louis. 'Any time the mob approaches me, I´ll do what I can to put them in imminent threat of physical injury because that´s what kept them from destroying my house and my family.'
Because the charges were misdemeanors, the McCloskeys did not face the possibility of losing their law licenses or their rights to own firearms.
The McCloskeys were indicted by a grand jury in October on felony charges of the unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering. Callahan later amended the charges to give jurors the alternative of convictions of misdemeanor harassment instead of the weapons charge.
They agreed to give up the weapons used in the incident.
Patricia and Mark McCloskey leave a St. Louis court house in June after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges
But shortly after the guilty plea, Mark McCloskey showed off his new rifle.
'Checking out my new AR,’ reads the caption on photos he posted to social media. McCloskey is seen in the photos wearing a curt smile and brandishing the weapon with a finger just above the trigger. One photo also includes his wife Patricia giving a thumbs up.
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