The Missouri couple that drew headlines by defending their property from Black Lives Matter protesters in June 2020 have just received a pardon from Missouri’s governor.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson pardoned Mark and Patricia McCloskey, as was declared in a release on Tuesday. Their names were included in a list of 12 that received pardons.
Mark McCloskey had brandished an AR-15, while his wife Patricia held a handgun in a video of a confrontation with Black Lives Matter protesters that were threatening to burn their residence down and kill them.
A couple has come out of their house and is pointing guns at protesters in their neighborhood #StLouis #lydakrewson pic.twitter.com/ZJ8a553PAU
— Daniel Shular (@xshularx) June 29, 2020
The couple would describe the harrowing incident on an episode of “Hannity” on Fox News in early July.
“People were screaming everything,” Mark McCloskey said.
“[They said] that they were going to kill us,” Patricia McCloskey added. “They were going to come in there. They were going to burn down the house. They were going to be living in our house after I was dead, and they were pointing to different rooms and said, ‘That’s going to be my bedroom and that’s going to be the living room and I’m going to be taking a shower in that room,” she recalled.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner filed charges against the St. Louis couple in July. They were charged with unlawful use of a weapon/flourishing. Although the charge was a felony that could carry a sentence up to four years in prison, they pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and were fined.
“Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty to fourth-degree misdemeanor assault and was ordered to pay a $750 fine, while Patricia pleaded guilty to second-degree misdemeanor harassment. She was ordered to pay $2,000,” the Washington Examiner reported.
“The legal process was not without controversy, as Democratic Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who charged the couple, was removed from her prosecutorial role after a judge ruled she would initiate the prosecution ‘for political purposes’,” the report added.
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