In the summer of 2020, when burning, looting, and murdering mobs were rampaging in Democrat-run cities and states, the McCloskeys infamously stood firm outside their St. Louis, Missouri residence.
For protecting their property with firearms, the McCloskeys were indicted on two felony counts in October, 2020; plead guilty in June 2021 to misdemeanor charges and agreed to surrender the weapons used in the incident; and were pardoned by Republican governor Mike Parson in August, 2021.
Following this chain of events, the McCloskeys sued to have their weapons returned and their fines remitted. A judge ruled this week that the pardon does not have bearing on the plea deal.
A Missouri judge ruled this week that Mark and Patricia McCloskey aren’t entitled to get their weapons back or have their fines remitted because they were pardoned by the governor after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges last year.The McCloskeys pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and second-degree harassment, both misdemeanors, connected to a standoff with protesters in 2020.The couple waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters who had entered a private road in front of their home in June 2020.Mark McCloskey brought a lawsuit last year in which he alleged the couple was entitled to the Colt AR-15 rifle and a Bryco .380-caliber they were forced to surrender after their plea deal and the roughly $2,750 they were ordered to pay.The couple was pardoned by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, after they pleaded guilty.Circuit Judge Joan Moriarty ruled Wednesday that the pardon had no bearing on the plea agreement.”Plaintiff and his wife are required to follow through with their end of the bargain,” she wrote.
The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch has more:
Mark McCloskey said he plans to appeal.”We’ll see what the Court of Appeals has to say,” he said.. . . . On Wednesday, Moriarty wrote that a pardon doesn’t change the terms of a plea agreement.”While the governor’s pardon does clear plaintiff’s record of the conviction,” she wrote, “his guilt remains and the terms of an agreement that predicated said guilt also remains.”
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