Gun-waving St. Louis lawyer sues to reclaim guns and money | Crime News
ST. LOUIS — Mark McCloskey, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate who along with his wife was pardoned this week after pointing guns at racial justice protesters last summer outside their Central West End mansion, sued Missouri Wednesday to get his guns back.
McCloskey, 64, filed a civil suit in St. Louis Circuit Court seeking the return of a Colt AR-15 rifle and Bryco .380-caliber pistol that he and his wife Patricia McCloskey, 62, agreed to surrender in June when they pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from a confrontation outside their Portland Place mansion last year.
The suit names the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office as a defendant even though an independent special prosecutor negotiated a plea agreement with the McCloskeys after St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner was disqualified from the case. The couple’s plea agreement consented to the destruction of their guns.
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A spokeswoman for Gardner could not be reached.
Richard Callahan, the appointed special prosecutor and former U.S. attorney in St. Louis, said that while a governor’s pardon nullifies a criminal conviction, he suspects “it does not entitle (McCloskey) to the guns, if they exist, or to the fines, any more than a person receiving a pardon who has spent time in prison gets reimbursed for the time they spent in prison.”
Gov. Mike Parson’s pardon of the couple this week absolved them of “all wrongdoing” and annuls “all judgments and dispositive orders” related to his case, the lawsuit says. It also seeks a refund of $872.50 in fines paid in June.
McCloskey’s suit claims “There is no just basis or right for the State of Missouri to possess the above-referenced firearms or to retain the above-referenced funds and that such firearms and funds should be immediately returned into the possession of the petitioner.”
An affidavit filed with the suit claimed the rifle is worth $1,500 and that the pistol is worth $400.
It was not immediately clear who has custody of the guns or if they still exist. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department had seized the weapons during its investigation. A police spokesperson referred questions to the Circuit Attorney’s Office.