The St Louis couple pardoned for aiming guns at Black Lives Matter protesters showed up to support Kyle Rittenhouse at his trial

• Mark and Patricia McCloskey supported Kyle Rittenhouse outside the court during his trial.
• The couple were pardoned for a misdemeanor in 2020 after they waved guns at BLM protesters.

The St Louis couple who pointed their guns at a Black Lives Matter marchers traveled to Kyle Rittenhouse's trial to support him.

Mark McCloskey, with his wife Patricia standing by, told reporters at the Kenosha County Courthouse on Monday that Rittenhouse is a victim of "cancel culture" and that the couple wants him to be acquitted.

The prosecution and the defense gave their closing statements Monday in Rittenhouse's case.

He is on trial for fatally shooting two men and injuring a third during protests in Kenosha, facing a slew of charges including intentional homicide.

He has pleaded not guilty on the grounds that he acted in self-defense. The jury is due to begin deliberation on Tuesday.

"We feel for Mr Rittenhouse, we think he acted in self-defense," Mark McCloskey told Fox News. "We think he's been politically prosecuted, as were we, and we're hoping that the jury finds him not guilty on all counts and he can go home a free man."

The comments chimed with Rittenhouse's defense attorney Mark Richards who argued in his closing statement that prosecutors made a "political case" against him.

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger, representing the prosecution, said it was impossible to say Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense when he brought a gun and was "provoking" others.

Protesters outside the court hollered and waved signs both against and in support of Rittenhouse during a portion of McCloskey's comments to the media, as seen in a video by freelance reporter Sergio Olmos.

McCloskey and his wife, both lawyers themselves, were fined for misdemeanors after they pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters marching through their gated St Louis, Missouri, community in June 2020. They were later pardoned by Missouri Governor Mark Parson.

Both the McCloskey case and the Rittenhouse trial have become celebrated rightwing causes, with their supporters saying they are test cases for gun rights and free speech.

"I feel bad for anybody who got destroyed in the press for doing no more than protecting themselves and their fellow citizens," McCloskey told Fox News. "Because there is a cancel culture in this country that destroys your ability to tell the truth and be honestly portrayed in the press."