A St. Louis couple who made national headlines for defending their property with firearms have been charged with a felony by Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner.
Patricia and Mark McCloskey are charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a class E felony, according to the complaint.
“It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner at those participating in nonviolent protest, and while we are fortunate this situation did not escalate into deadly force, this type of conduct is unacceptable in St. Louis,” Gardner said in a statement.
“We must protect the right to peacefully protest, & any attempt to chill it through intimidation will not be tolerated.”
1/ Statement from Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner – Today my office filed charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey following an incident involving peaceful, unarmed protesters on June 28th. Full statement below: pic.twitter.com/zPucQ3MHs5
— Circuit Attorney (@stlcao) July 20, 2020
SEE ALSO: Armed Homeowners Brandish Firearms as BLM Protesters Break into Gated Neighborhood
The charges are unlikely to stick. Both Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Gov. Mike Parson have publicly blasted Gardner’s prosecution, and Gov. Parson has vowed to pardon the couple if they are convicted.
Schmitt published an amicus brief supporting the dismissal of the case. He cited the broad protections in Missouri for those using firearms for lawful self-defense
“The right to keep and bear arms is given the highest level of protection in our constitution and our laws, including the Castle Doctrine. This provides broad rights to Missourians who are protecting their property and lives from those who wish to do them harm,” Schmitt said. “As Missouri’s Chief law enforcement officer, I won’t stand by while Missouri law is being ignored – that’s why I entered this case to seek its dismissal, to protect the rights of Missourians to defend their property under Missouri’s Castle Doctrine.”
Missouri’s castle doctrine law explicitly protects “displaying firearms in an angry or threatening manner” as long as the display was used in the defense of self or home, Schmitt argued.
“Missouri’s Legislature has provided additional protection for these constitutional rights by enacting the ‘castle doctrine’ of self-defense, which permits Missourians to use force— including the display of firearms in self-defense—to protect themselves, their families, their homes, and their property from threatening or violent intruders,” Schmitt said in the brief.
Gov. Parson accused Gardner of being politically motivated and criticized her for prosecuting the McCloskeys while claiming not to have enough resources to prosecute homicide cases.
We must prioritize laws that keep our citizens safe over political motivations. Kim Gardner owes every single family who has had a loved one murdered an explanation on why she has acted on the McCloskey case instead of theirs.
— Mike Parson (@mikeparson) July 20, 2020
SEE ALSO: St. Louis Couple Who Had Firearms Seized by Police Offered 50 Free AR-15s
Appearing on the Sean Hannity Show, Gov. Parson vowed to pardon the couple.
“Without a doubt, Sean,” he said when asked about a pardon. “I will do everything within the Constitution of the State of Missouri to protect law-abiding citizens and those people are exactly that. They are law-abiding citizens, and they’re being attacked frankly by a political process that’s really unfortunate.”
The McCloskeys claim they feared for their lives when a large group of people broke into their gated community earlier this month on their way to protest at the home of the St. Louis mayor. They say several individuals threatened them with physical violence.
“My clients had to deal with comments that were from two individuals that were perpetrating these acts of violence and, not charging, but coming toward them and doing so in a fashion that was threatening, menacing, and in a fashion inconsistent with the Black Lives Matter message,” the McCloskey’s lawyer, Al Watkins, told Fox News at the time.
This is why all Americans must fight the leftists at every ballot. Think locally from school boards, towns boards, cities boards, show up and vote.we must not allow this menus to undermine our constitution. We see what these people want. To destroy our institutions like the police forces, banking, rule of low, prisons, and immigration as examples. It is time for all Americans to rise and push back on this cancel culture.
gov parsons is my home! And he will slap this tyrant twat righteously.
Then she can go back to sucking campaign money from geo soros little head
The protesters had entered private property without an invitation. How many were arrested and charged with trespassing??? Whether the gate was broken when they entered or not really doesn’t matter, that it was damaged during the protest should lead to destructio0n of property charges to the leaders of the protest as well. Protests in public areas, especially places like the state capital, are one thing — but there was no reason to enter this gated community EXCEPT to INTENTIONALLY scare and/or intimidate the residents. THAT should be enough for criminal charges against the protest leaders who had this idea in the first place!!
They need to publish how much money was funneled into that DA’s campaign from the Soros’s people. That is the real crime.
These people were protected by the Laws on the books in Mo.
Yep, and if that mob had any brain power they would target people like Soros and NOT the McCloskeys.
That is true, but since Soros is funding BLM, they won’t protest against him or his OSF.
I guess criminal trespass is now a “peaceful” protest. Who knew?
Gardner will soon be running for a congressional seat. She’ll have a big D behind her name. Her platform will be no guns, end racism and social justice. Ho hum, same old bullshit different day.
SUE THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY FOR MALICIOUS PROSECUTION.
Why isn!t there a recall petition?
Can the prosecutor be recalled?
Nothing to pardon, the evidence was tampered with so the judge must dismiss the case with prejudice.
Correct! Apparently the firearm she was displaying would not fire so the D.A.’s office sent it to a gunsmith to disassemble then reassemble so it would fire. Also, wish the judge could dismiss the D.A.
What happened to “I solemnly swear to protect the Constitution of the United States against ALL ENEMIES foreign AND DOMESTIC”?
Why isn’t that lawyer fired and arrested for violating the constitution, abuse of power and sent to GITMO for questioning about who is bribing her to do this?
Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner ………….
“We must protect the right to peacefully protest, & any attempt to chill it through intimidation will not be tolerated.”
SHOULD READ …..
“We must protect the right to life, liberty, body, and property by any lawful means necessary, including the use of firearms, & any attempt to chill it through intimidation will not be tolerated.”
To all communists, if you don’t like our constitution and our laws, just leave, go some where else (China has lots of room), Delta is ready when you are.
ps please take your media with you
Dumbazz commie Kimberly Gardner needs to be impeached.. after the flogging.
Yet another affirmative action bigger nitch prosecutor shows her fundament.
Don’t pardon them, they did nothing illegal. If you pardon them, then it is an admission that what they did was illegal.
Soros’ puppet flies off the deep end.