O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) 鈥� Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Tuesday that he made good on his promise to pardon a couple who gained notoriety for pointing guns at social justice demonstrators as they marched past the couple's home in a luxury St. Louis enclave last year.
Parson, a Republican, on Friday pardoned Mark McCloskey, who in June to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750, and Patricia McCloskey, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was fined $2,000.
鈥淢ark McCloskey has publicly stated that if he were involved in the same situation, he would have the exact same conduct,鈥� the McCloskeys' lawyer Joel Schwartz said Tuesday. 鈥淗e believes that the pardon vindicates that conduct.鈥�
The McCloskeys, both lawyers in their 60s, said they felt threatened by the protesters, who were in June 2020 on their way to demonstrate in front of the mayor's house nearby in one of hundreds of similar demonstrations around the country after . The couple also said the group was trespassing on a private street.
Mark McCloskey emerged from his home with an AR-15-style rifle, and Patricia McCloskey waved a semiautomatic pistol, according to the indictment. Photos and cellphone video captured the confrontation, which drew widespread attention and made the couple heroes to some and villains to others. No shots were fired and no one was hurt.
Special prosecutor Richard Callahan said his investigation determined that the protesters were peaceful.
"There was no evidence that any of them had a weapon and no one I interviewed realized they had ventured onto a private enclave,鈥� Callahan said in a news release after the McCloskeys pleaded guilty.
Mark McCloskey, who announced in May that he was in Missouri, was unapologetic after the plea hearing.
鈥淚鈥檇 do it again,鈥� he said from the courthouse steps in downtown St. Louis. 鈥淎ny time the mob approaches me, I鈥檒l do what I can to put them in imminent threat of physical injury because that鈥檚 what kept them from destroying my house and my family.鈥�
Because the charges were misdemeanors, the McCloskeys did not face the possibility of losing their law licenses or their rights to own firearms.
The McCloskeys were in October on felony charges of the unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering. Callahan later amended the charges to give jurors the alternative of convictions of misdemeanor harassment instead of the weapons charge.
Parson鈥檚 legal team has been working through a backlog of clemency requests for months.
He hasn't yet taken action on longtime inmate Kevin Strickland, who is innocent of a 1978 Kansas City triple homicide. Parson could pardon Strickland, but he has said he鈥檚 not convinced he is innocent.
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Associated Press writer Summer Ballentine contributed to this story from Columbia, Missouri.
Jim Salter, The Associated Press
