A judge has expunged misdemeanor convictions of a St. Louis couple who pointed guns at anti-racism protesters outside their home in 2020.
Now they want their guns back.
Attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey filed a motion in January to expunge the convictions. Judge Joseph P. White wrote in his order Wednesday that the purpose of expungement is to give rehabilitated people a second chance. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The city prosecutor and police opposed expunging the records.
Shortly after the judge’s ruling, Mark McCloskey requested that the city return two guns that were seized when he pleaded guilty in 2021 to misdemeanor assault charges.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson granted the pardon a few weeks after the petition.
“It’s time for the city to put guns away,” he told the Post-Dispatch.
If that doesn’t happen, he said he will sue.
The McCloskeys said they felt threatened by protesters passing their home in June 2020 on their way to a demonstration outside the mayor’s mansion.
It was one of hundreds of demonstrations held across the country following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The couple also said the group was trespassing on their private road.
Mark McCloskey emerged from the home with an AR-15-style rifle, while Patricia McCloskey brandished a semi-automatic handgun.
