Posted on 08/03/2021 3:30:55 PM PDT by devane617
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Tuesday announced that he made good on his promise to pardon a couple who gained notoriety for pointing guns at social justice demonstrators as they marched past the couple’s home in a luxury St. Louis enclave last year.
Parson, a Republican, on Friday 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.
The McCloskeys, both lawyers in their 60s, said they felt threatened by the protesters, who were passing their home in June 2020 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.
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 McCloskey, who announced in May that he was running for a U.S. Senate seat in Missouri, 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.
Parson’s legal team has been working through a backlog of clemency requests for months. He hasn’t yet taken action on longtime inmate Kevin Strickland, whoseveral prosecutors now say is innocent of a 1978 Kansas City triple homicide. Parson could pardon Strickland, but he has said he’s not convinced he is innocent.
OUTSTANDING!!!
There was quite a bit of evidence they had weapons.
It was given to him. He lied.
Callahan is a longtime ally of former Senator Claire McCaskill (D)
To be factual, I believe the gate was broken after the first encounter.
“There was no evidence that any of them had a weapon and no one I interviewed realized they had ventured onto a private enclave,”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The crowd’s “weapon” was the fact that they were a crowd. And it’s beside the point whether or not they “realized” they had ventured onto private property. What matters is that they had ventured onto private property. This is a well deserved pardon.
The first sentence of the story tells you all you need to know about the motive of the author of the piece.
Good news
An early picture of the confrontation, shows a picture of a rioter with a long gun. Must have made the picture too wide as it was cropped.
Too bad he didn’t have Zeus and Apollo to take care of things.
It was FENCED, but noooo, not private. Idiot.
Way t’go, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson !
You’d best move to a red state.... ;>)
I mean, fully RED.
And, your crime must be committed and prosecuted in a leftist jurisdiction....
(Legitimate) Crimes with arms in MO are usually quite stiffly dealt with.
Jonathan Higgins approves.
Glad to see but never should have been charged.
You say "social justice demonstrators", they saw a raging lunatic mob bent on destruction and bloodshed.
So there's that.
Very good.
A pardon implies they did something wrong.
This couple didn’t even start shooting.
That may or may not have justified a gubernatorial pardon.
Just a note for the under-informed; if they had not 'waved' the weapons but had rather pointed them, then that could have been a felony as a direct threat. 'Showing' a weapon when threatened by a MOB (crowd) is a valid form of self-defense, especially on your own property!
I’ll take it. Works for me.
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