果酱视频

ST. LOUIS 鈥� A 果酱视频 judge on Wednesday expunged the misdemeanor convictions of a local lawyer and his wife after they were pardoned for pointing guns at racial justice protesters outside their Central West End mansion in 2020.

Immediately after his conviction was cleared, Mark McCloskey demanded the city return the two guns that were seized as part of his guilty plea to misdemeanor assault, he said in an interview Thursday.

鈥淚t鈥檚 time for the city to cough up my guns,鈥� he said.

If it doesn鈥檛, he said, he鈥檒l file another lawsuit.

The expungements, which came over objections from city prosecutors and police, marked the latest development in a four-year saga that began in the summer of 2020 when McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, emerged from their home on Portland Place and waved guns at people walking by during a protest of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

The McCloskeys, who said they were protecting their property from protesters trespassing on the private street, were charged by 果酱视频 Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner with multiple felonies. Gardner was later disqualified from prosecuting them after mentioning their case in campaign emails.

A special prosecutor took over and indicted the McCloskeys on felony charges of unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering. They later reached an agreement in which Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment, both misdemeanors.

As part of that agreement, the McCloskeys surrendered the Colt AR-15 rifle and a Bryco .380-caliber pistol they were holding during the confrontation on Portland Place and paid a fine of $872.50.

Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, later pardoned the couple, and McCloskey sued in 2021 to get his guns back. Judges denied that request and a subsequent appeal.

Meanwhile, McCloskey launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. He has also gotten involved with a controversial statewide push to adopt a GOP candidate vetting protocol to stamp out candidates who aren鈥檛 鈥渢rue Republicans.鈥�

Then, in January 2024, the McCloskeys petitioned to expunge the couple鈥檚 misdemeanor convictions. They testified at a hearing in March and argued they have been upstanding citizens since their guilty pleas. Mark McCloskey said he has continued to work as a lawyer, fighting for his clients.

Attorneys for the city鈥檚 public safety department, however, asked protesters to testify about how the McCloskeys鈥� actions affected them. They also quizzed the couple on advertisements for Mark McCloskey鈥檚 subsequent political campaign that featured footage from the incident.

The city and 果酱视频 Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore鈥檚 Office argued that the couple represents a continued threat to public safety and has shown no remorse for the impact of their actions.

But Judge Joseph P. Whyte wrote in an order that the testimony of the protesters showed a threat to public safety on June 28, 2020 鈥� not in the time since.

The purpose of an expungement, he wrote, is to give people who have rehabilitated themselves a second chance. McCloskey鈥檚 campaign rhetoric is protected by the First Amendment and not evidence of a continued threat, Whyte said.

鈥淚t seems the parties have attempted to make political arguments in this proceeding,鈥� Whyte wrote. 鈥淭his court, however, is required to look only at the relevant language in the statute.鈥�