A St Louis attorney who, along with his lawyer wife, waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home last year, appeared on television on Wednesday to rail against a push to have their law licenses suspended, slamming the effort as ‘totally insane’ and something from ‘the upside-down world.’ 

‘What we did was we stood out there and defended ourselves, exercising our Second Amendment rights. Nobody got shot. Not a shot got fired,’ Mark McCloskey told Fox Business’ presenter Maria Bartiromo. 

Missouri Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel, in a court filing on Monday, cited Mark and Patricia McCloskey’s guilty pleas to misdemeanors stemming from the June 2020 encounter in an attempt to temporarily prevent them from practicing law. 

Pratzel’s office is responsible for investigating ethical complaints against Missouri lawyers.

Beleaguered St Louis attorney Mark McCloskey appeared on Fox Business on Wednesday to rail against an effort to have his law license suspended over his gun-toting antics

Beleaguered St Louis attorney Mark McCloskey appeared on Fox Business on Wednesday to rail against an effort to have his law license suspended over his gun-toting antics

Beleaguered St Louis attorney Mark McCloskey appeared on Fox Business on Wednesday to rail against an effort to have his law license suspended over his gun-toting antics 

McCloskey argued all he and his lawyer wife Patricia had done was defend themselves from hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters

McCloskey argued all he and his lawyer wife Patricia had done was defend themselves from hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters

McCloskey argued all he and his lawyer wife Patricia had done was defend themselves from hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters

The McCloskeys, standing in front their house, confront protesters marching to St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson's house on June 28, 2020

The McCloskeys, standing in front their house, confront protesters marching to St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson's house on June 28, 2020

The McCloskeys, standing in front their house, confront protesters marching to St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson’s house on June 28, 2020

The couple, both lawyers in their 60s, said they felt threatened by the protesters, who were passing their home on their way to demonstrate in front of the mayor's house nearby in one of hundreds of similar demonstrations around the country after George Floyd's death

The couple, both lawyers in their 60s, said they felt threatened by the protesters, who were passing their home on their way to demonstrate in front of the mayor's house nearby in one of hundreds of similar demonstrations around the country after George Floyd's death

The couple, both lawyers in their 60s, said they felt threatened by the protesters, who were passing their home on their way to demonstrate in front of the mayor’s house nearby in one of hundreds of similar demonstrations around the country after George Floyd’s death 

Mark, who is among several Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in 2022 in Missouri, pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was ordered to pay a $750 fine. His wife pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, pardoned the McCloskeys on July 30. 

‘Everybody from the president of the United States, Donald Trump, our governor, Mike Parson, our Attorney General, Eric Schmidt, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, all said that not only didn’t we do anything wrong, they were proud of us,’ McCloskey said during the interview.

Pratzel wrote in his motion that the McCloskey couple’s crimes showed ‘indifference to public safety’ and involved ‘moral turpitude,’ warranting discipline. He recommended that the Supreme Court indefinitely suspend the married attorneys’ law licenses. 

Speaking to Bartiromo, McCloskey bristled at Pratzel’s argumentation. 

‘To say that we engaged in moral turpitude when all we did was defend ourselves is totally insane,’ he said. 

Pratzel’s filing alleged that while a governor’s pardon erases a person’s conviction, ‘the person’s guilt remains.’

Speaking to Bartiromo on Wednesday, McCloskey also fired a shot across the Missouri Bar’s bow, accusing the professional organization of engaging in ‘woke brainwashing’ by requiring bias and diversity trainings. 

But McCloskey argued that the unintended consequence of his ongoing feud with the state Bar was that it has fired up the Republican base.

‘It is one more example of how cancel culture has an effect on the right that they maybe didn’t anticipate,’ the Senate hopeful said. ‘People are outraged. People are up in arms. People are more fired up. Our campaign is going great.’ 

Mark McCloskey previously said that if he faced the same situation again, he would have reacted in the same exact way.  

The McCloskeys’ lawyer, Joel Schwartz, said on Tuesday that Parson’s pardon ‘vindicates’ Mark and Patricia’s conduct. 

Mark and Patricia McCloskey were admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1986 and 1987, respectively. Both were listed as attorneys in ‘good standing’ on the Bar’s website as of Wednesday afternoon. 

The couple’s two-person law practice specializes in personal injury and medical malpractice.  

Mark and Patricia McCloskey confront protesters in front of their home last year

Mark and Patricia McCloskey confront protesters in front of their home last year

Mark and Patricia McCloskey confront protesters in front of their home last year

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, pardoned the McCloskeys

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, pardoned the McCloskeys

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, pardoned the McCloskeys

The June 28, 2020, protests followed George Floyd´s death under a Minneapolis police officer´s knee. 

The couple, both lawyers in their 60s, said they felt threatened by the protesters, who were passing their home on their way to demonstrate in front of the mayor’s house nearby in one of hundreds of similar demonstrations around the country after George Floyd’s death. The couple also said the group was trespassing on a private street.

Mark emerged from his home with an AR-15-style rifle, and Patricia waved a semiautomatic pistol, according to the indictment. Photos and cellphone video captured the confrontation, which drew widespread attention and made the couple heroes to some and villains to others. No shots were fired and no one was hurt. 

Special prosecutor Richard 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.

Patricia and Mark McCloskey leave a St. Louis court house in June after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges

Patricia and Mark McCloskey leave a St. Louis court house in June after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges

Patricia and Mark McCloskey leave a St. Louis court house in June after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges

Mark, who fast became the GOP’s poster boy and spoke at August’s Republican National Convention in support of Donald Trump, is now running for US Senate.

He was unapologetic after the plea hearing.

‘I’d do it again,’ he said from the courthouse steps in downtown St. Louis. ‘Any time the mob approaches me, I´ll do what I can to put them in imminent threat of physical injury because that´s what kept them from destroying my house and my family.’

Because the charges were misdemeanors, the McCloskeys did not face the possibility of losing their law licenses or their rights to own firearms.

The McCloskeys were indicted by a grand jury in October on felony charges of the unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering. Callahan later amended the charges to give jurors the alternative of convictions of misdemeanor harassment instead of the weapons charge.

They agreed to give up the weapons used in the incident.

But shortly after the guilty plea, Mark McCloskey showed off his new rifle.

‘Checking out my new AR,’ reads the caption on photos he posted to social media. McCloskey is seen in the photos wearing a curt smile and brandishing the weapon with a finger just above the trigger. One photo also includes his wife Patricia giving a thumbs up.

Source: Daily Mail

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