ST. Louis (AP) — A St. Louis couple accused of waving guns at racist protesters will return to court last summer. The judge sends the case back to the grand jury to decide whether to prosecute. In the first place.
St. Louis grand jury indicted Mark and Patricia McCloskey In October A felony of illegal use of weapons and falsification of evidence. Their lawyer, Joel Schwartz, filed a petition this month to remand him to a grand jury because of “prejudice” in the office of St. Louis circuit lawyer Kim Gardner, who said he had polluted the grand jury process. submitted.
Before the hearing on Friday, it was not clear when circuit judge David Mason would make the decision. Schwartz and special counsel Richard Callaghan, appointed months after the October indictment, rejected the speculation.
The demonstrators were marching on June 28 to the house of then Mayor Lyda Krewson. Police killed George Floyd In Minneapolis. Protesters set foot on the driveway, including the Macroski mansion. The couple said they were both lawyers in their early 60s and felt threatened after protesters broke the iron gates and ignored the “no trespassing” sign. Protest leaders denied the damage to the gate and said the march was peaceful.
Mark McCloskey left home with an AR-15 style rifle, and Patricia McCloskey appeared with a semi-automatic pistol. A mobile phone video caught the conflict.
Gardner said the gun display risked bloodshed. Protesters are afraid that “Patricia McCloskey’s finger is triggering and her excited attitude will injure her,” according to a police probable cause statement.
From the beginning, Schwartz claimed that the prosecution had political motivation.
Callahan, a longtime judge and former U.S. lawyer, appears inappropriate when the December judge mentions the Macroski case in a funding email before Gardner’s Democratic Primary in August. After deciding, he was appointed as a special counsel. Gardner continued to win the reelection.
McCloskeys has emerged as a celebrity in a conservative circle. They spoke on video at the Republican National Convention last summer, and Missouri Governor Mike Parson vowed to pardon him if convicted.
Politico recently reported that Mark McCloskey is considering running for the Senate in 2022. Republican Senator Roy Brandt In March he announced that he would not seek reelection.