Mark McCloskey’s guns haven’t been destroyed and he wants them back. The city says no. | Law and order

ST. LOUIS — The guns seized from Mark and Patricia McCloskey in 2020 remain in police and sheriff’s department custody despite a court order to destroy them last year.

Robert Dierker of the City Counselor’s Office said in a virtual court hearing Wednesday that the city has yet to dispose of the guns.

“Obviously with our customary efficiency, we should have destroyed (the weapons) months ago,” Dierker said. “We haven’t. So McCloskey’s a beneficiary of bureaucratic, I want to say, ineptitude. But in any event, it’s fortuitous that the weapons still exist.”

Mark McCloskey, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, wants the weapons back immediately and has sued St. Louis, the sheriff and state to get them. But the city says he and his wife forfeited them as part of their plea agreements to misdemeanors for waving the guns at protesters in June 2020 outside the couple’s mansion on Portland Place, a private and gated street.

McCloskey, 65, sued last year seeking the return of a Colt AR-15 rifle and a Bryco .380-caliber pistol that he and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, 62, voluntarily relinquished in June when they pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges for wielding guns at protesters following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. No shots were fired.

Mark McCloskey’s lawsuit also sought the refund of $872.50 in fines paid in June. McCloskey claimed the handgun is worth $400 and the rifle is valued at $1,500.

Mark McCloskey said Wednesday that Gov. Mike Parson’s July 30 pardons of his and wife’s misdemeanor crimes entitle them to get their guns and money back.

“The loss of that property would certainly be a legal disqualification, impediment or other legal disadvantage, of which I have now been absolved by the governor, and therefore the state no longer has any legitimate reason to hold the property,” he said.

The City Counselor’s Office, which is representing the police and sheriff’s departments, said in court pleadings and at Wednesday’s hearing that Parson’s pardon obliterated the conviction, it did not obliterate the plea bargain in which McCloskey forfeited the guns.

“We do not think he can demonstrate the right to immediate possession,” Dierker said.

Circuit Judge Joan Moriarty took the case under advisement.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, also a lawyer, face suspension of their law license. In September, the state Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel filed complaints against them, alleging the couple “admitted committing a criminal act that shows indifference to public safety and involved moral turpitude.”

Patricia McCloskey also has sued the Circuit Attorney’s Office seeking the return of the $2,122.50 she paid in fines and court costs as part of her plea agreement. The suit is pending.