ST. LOUIS — Patricia McCloskey, one of the two gun-waving lawyers who confronted protesters outside their Portland Place mansion last summer, is suing to recover $2,122.50 from the state — the amount, including court costs and fees, she paid after pleading guilty in June to second-degree harassment, a Class A misdemeanor.
In a civil suit filed Friday in St. Louis Circuit Court, McCloskey said she was subsequently granted executive clemency by Gov. Michael Parson, absolving her “of all wrongdoing in connection†with the criminal charge that led to her guilty plea.
“There is no just basis or right for the State of Missouri to retain the above-referenced funds,†McCloskey said in the filing.
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McCloskey is represented in the case by her husband, Mark McCloskey, a candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
The pair emerged from their home on a private street on June 28, 2020, and held guns as a crowd of protesters passed on their way to then-Mayor Lyda Krewson’s house. The couple said the protesters were trespassing on their private street.
The couple were indicted last year on charges of unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering, both felonies. Mark McCloskey wielded an AR-15 rifle at the protesters, and Patricia McCloskey pointed a semiautomatic handgun at them as they marched past their home.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner initially charged the couple with felony gun crimes, but she was disqualified from prosecuting the couple after the McCloskeys were mentioned in her campaign material. Former U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan was appointed special prosecutor in the case.
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,†Callahan said in a news release after the McCloskeys pleaded guilty.
Mark McCloskey agreed to pay a $750 fine after pleading guilty to fourth-degree assault, a Class C misdemeanor. The couple also was ordered to surrender the two weapons they pointed at protesters.
Parson pardoned the couple on July 30 but waited to announce his action until Aug. 3.
Two days after the announcement, Mark McCloskey sued the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office seeking the return of a Colt AR-15 rifle and Bryco .380-caliber pistol that he and his wife surrendered when they pleaded guilty. The couple’s plea agreement consented to the destruction of their guns.
A hearing in that case has set for February 2022.
