St. Louis couple who waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters could face suspension of law licenses
They received a pardon from the governor in July
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The St. Louis couple who was captured wielding firearms at Black Lives Matters protesters in front of their gated mansion last year is facing a new legal fight after Missouri's chief disciplinary counsel asked the state Supreme Court to suspend their law licenses.
Mark McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, both personal injury attorneys who were admitted to the Missouri bar in 1986, pleaded guilty in connection with the viral incident. Both were both pardoned by Republican Gov. Mike Parson in July.
Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to harassment and was given a $2,000 fine. Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault for threatening a passersby with an AR-15 rifle and was fined $750. They did not lose their law licenses at the time.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WHO IS KIMBERLY GARDNER, MISSOURI PROSECUTOR AT CENTER OF MCCLOSKEY CASE?
Mark and Patricia McCloskey draw their firearms on protestors as they enter their St. Louis neighborhood during a protest against then-Mayor Lyda Krewson in June 2020. Missouri's chief disciplinary officer filed a motion to have the law licenses for both McCloskey's suspended. (DANIEL SHULAR/via REUTERS)
Last week, Alan Pratzel, the state Supreme Court's chief disciplinary officer, filed a motion to have the law licenses for both Mark and Patricia McCloskey suspended, saying both crimes proved the couple showed "indifference to public safety" and "moral turpitude."
In court documents, he cited other Missouri cases in which lawyers were disciplined for crimes. He said their pardon has no impact on his request.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"In Missouri, a pardon obliterates a person's conviction, but the person's guilt remains," read court documents presented to the seven-member court.
The couple went viral in June 2020 when they were captured wielding a rifle and pistol at demonstrators marching to the home of then-St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The couple maintained the crowd has trespassed on their property and that they felt threatened.
No shots were fired.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pretzel also noted that Mark McCloskey told the media that he would commit the same act against if under the same circumstances.
"Respondent’s public statements aggravate because they indicate his refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing and demonstrate his lack of respect for the judicial process that he had recently participated in," the motion states.
Fox News has reached out to the couple and their attorney.
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Mark McCloskey is currently running for a U.S. Senate seat as a Republican. In August, he filed a lawsuit seeking the return of his firearms – a Colt AR-15 rifle and Bryco pistol – as well as fines they paid after pleading guilty.
"Now that the governor has pardoned us and those judgments are annulled the state should have no legitimate reason to have our guns," McCloskey told Fox News at the time, saying the city was planning to melt the weapons. "It doesn't do me much good to have a couple of pounds of melted aluminum. I want my guns back."