Missouri couple who waved guns at protesters may have law licenses suspended
Missouri Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel says Mark and Patricia McCloskey showed “indifference to public safety.”
The Missouri couple who infamously took to the front of their house last summer to point guns at Black Lives Matter protesters may face the suspension of their law licenses.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, stemming from the incident where they waved an AR-15 and a handgun at protesters who were walking past their home to the mayoral residence of former St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson in June 2020.
Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was ordered to pay a $750 fine. His wife, Patricia, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.
After pleading guilty, Mr. McCloskey said, “I’d do it again,” 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.”
A Missouri official is now asking the state’s Supreme Court to suspend the law licenses of the couple.
Missouri Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel is responsible for investigating ethical complaints against attorneys in the state. He contends that the McCloskeys showed “indifference to public safety” and involved “moral turpitude,” warranting discipline, per NBC News.
As previously reported, Mark McCloskey is now running as a Republican to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate.
In his announcement video, he inaccurately claimed, “An angry mob marched to destroy my home and kill my family, I took a stand to defend them. I am a proven fighter against the mob. When the mob comes to destroy our home, our state, our nation, I’ll defend it. I will never back down. Help me fight back.”
A supporter of former President Donald Trump, McCloskey vowed to “never stop fighting” and says he has traveled as “a spokesperson for President Trump.”
The couple was pardoned by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, erasing their convictions. As previously reported, “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.”
Pratzel noted that even after a pardon, “the person’s guilt remains.”
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