No shame: Couple uses arrests to launch political campaign

A St. Louis couple wielded firearms from the porch of their mansion last summer, confronting peaceful protestors.

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Editorials

June 22, 2021 - 10:54 AM

Mark and Patricia McCloskey standing in front of their house in an affluent neighborhood of St. Louis aiming their guns at protesters as they march to Mayor Lyda Krewson's house on Sunday, June 28, 2020. Photo by (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS)

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the personal injury attorneys who became darlings of the right-wing fever swamps by waving guns around at peaceful protesters in St. Louis last year, pleaded guilty last week to misdemeanor charges. This is the right outcome to a case that was never really felony-charge material. But this shouldn’t be the end of it. After pleading to a crime, Mark McCloskey bragged about that crime and vowed to do it again if the same circumstances arose. If that’s not grounds for disbarment, what is?

The McCloskeys’ sorry saga should by now be familiar. Last June, protesters marching toward then-Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home crossed in front of the McCloskeys’ Central West End mansion. The couple appeared on the lawn, barefoot and wielding his-and-her firearms (respectively, an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and a small handgun), and confronted the crowd as it walked by. Mark McCloskey’s subsequent claim that his home was under assault was nonsense, as video and witness accounts confirmed. It was only the level-headedness of the protesters — in marked contrast to the provocative antics of the couple — that prevented things from turning violent.

That kind of behavior should have consequences, but St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s filing of felony charges was a bridge too far. Gardner has a history of taking on cases that appear designed more for headlines than convictions, and this one had the look of a publicity stunt. As if to prove it, Gardner’s campaign referenced the felony charges in fundraising material, prompting a judge to boot her from the case and appoint a special prosecutor, former U.S. Attorney Richard G. Callahan.

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