A St. Louis judge this week expunged misdemeanor convictions against Mark McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, following a high-profile incident in June 2020 in which the couple stood with guns outside their home and confronted a mob of Black Lives Matter protesters.
McCloskey is now asking for his firearms to be returned, saying in an interview that “it’s time for the city to let go of my guns.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.He added that he would sue if the city doesn’t cooperate, according to the paper.
“We were facing an angry mob alone.”
According to the Post-Dispatch, McCloskey surrendered two guns he and his wife had in their possession that day — a Colt AR-15 rifle and a Bryco .380-caliber pistol. As part of the agreement, McCloskey pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and his wife to second-degree harassment, both misdemeanors. They were originally charged with felonies.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, later pardoned the couple, and McCloskey sued in 2021 to get his guns back, but judges rejected that request and a subsequent appeal, the newspaper said.
The McCloskeys petitioned in January to have their misdemeanor convictions expunged, testified at their trial in March and argued they had been upstanding citizens since pleading guilty, the Post-Dispatch reported. McCloskey said he continued to work as an attorney, fighting for his clients, the paper added.
More from the Post-Dispatch:
But lawyers for the city’s Department of Public Safety called on protesters to testify about how the McCloskeys’ actions affected them, and also questioned them about a subsequent campaign ad by Mark McCloskey that used footage from the incident.
The city and St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore’s office argued the couple are a continuing threat to public safety and have shown no remorse for the impact of their actions.
But Judge Joseph P. White wrote in his order that the protesters’ testimony demonstrated a threat to public safety on June 28, 2020, but not since then.
The purpose of expungement, he wrote, is to give rehabilitated people a second chance.McClokey’s campaign comments are protected by the First Amendment and are not evidence of continuing threats, White said.
What’s the background?
On the evening of Sunday, June 28, 2020, the McCloskeys were confronted by a mob that reportedly breached the gates of their private community. Mark McCloskey said that the mob descended on their home shortly thereafter and “we feared for our lives,” adding that members of the mob told the couple they would “be killed, their house would be burned, their dog would be killed.” “We were facing an angry mob alone.”
A few days later, police announced they were investigating whether the mob of about 500 protesters committed fourth-degree assault by intimidation as well as trespass. By September, law enforcement officials had announced they would not be filing charges against the nine Black Lives Matter protesters who had been arrested and charged with trespass.
That wasn’t the case for Kim Gardner, then the St. Louis Circuit Attorney. She sued the McCloskeys a month after the incident, alleging that they had brandished a gun in a “threatening manner” at “peaceful, unarmed protesters.” But Gardner was accused at the time of having a history of making politically motivated decisions, and then-state Attorney General Eric Schmitt also criticized her for “political prosecution” of the McCloskeys and moved to drop the charges. By December, a judge had dismissed Gardner from the case, citing a George Soros-backed lawyer who used Gardner’s case in a fundraising email.
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