St. Louis Couple Who Displayed Guns at BLM Protesters To Protect Themselves Have Their Records Expunged
By Sharika Soal Jun. 8, 2024
A judge has cleared the misdemeanor convictions of a St. Louis couple who displayed firearms to protect their home against Black Lives Matter protesters outside their residence in 2020.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey are now seeking the return of their firearms.
In January, the attorneys petitioned for their convictions to be erased. Judge Joseph P. Whyte granted the expungement on Wednesday, noting that the process aims to provide rehabilitated individuals with a fresh start, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey filed a request in January to have the convictions wiped away. Judge Joseph P. Whyte wrote in an order Wednesday that the purpose of an expungement is to give people who have rehabilitated themselves a second chance, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
City prosecutors and police opposed the expungements.
Immediately after the judge’s ruling, Mark McCloskey demanded that the city return the two guns seized as part of his 2021 guilty plea to misdemeanor assault.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson pardoned the couple weeks after the plea.
“It’s time for the city to cough up my guns,” he told the Post-Dispatch.
If it doesn’t, he said, he’ll file a lawsuit.
The McCloskeys maintain that they felt threatened by the protesters who were walking by their home in June of 2020 on their way to the mayor’s house nearby.
The protest stemmed from George Floyd’s controversial passing, which sparked riots and protests all across America.
It was one of hundreds of demonstrations around the country after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The couple also said the group was trespassing on a private street.
McCloskey came out of his home with an AR-15-style rifle, and Patricia displayed a semiautomatic pistol.
