Gov. Mike Parson pardoned the St. Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters

• Gov. Mike Parson of Missouri pardoned the St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters in 2020.
• Mark and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in June over the incident.
• The couple were among 12 pardons and two commutations that Parson granted last week.

Gov. Mike Parson of Missouri pardoned the St. Louis couple who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges after pointing guns at demonstrators during the Black Lives Matter protests last summer.

Mark McCloskey, a Republican now running for a US Senate seat, pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750 over the incident. His wife, Patricia McCloskey, also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was fined $2,000.

Both agreed to surrender the firearms used in the confrontation in June 2020.

"Mark McCloskey has publicly stated that if he were involved in the same situation, he would have the exact same conduct," the McCloskeys' lawyer Joel Schwartz said Tuesday, citing a report by the Associated Press. "He believes that the pardon vindicates that conduct."

In a statement released by his Senate campaign, McCloskey claimed an "angry mob" of protesters had "crashed through my gate, and threatened my wife, my family, and my home." Authorities denied McCloskey's account of the incident.

"There was no evidence that any of them had a weapon and no one I interviewed realized they had ventured onto a private enclave," the special prosecutor Richard Callahan said in a news release after the McCloskeys pleaded guilty.

Despite the charges, McCloskey said on the courthouse steps after the couple's hearing in June that he would "do it again."

"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," he said.

The protesters entered the private street where the McCloskeys lived on their way to protest at the house of Lyda Krewson, the mayor of St. Louis at the time.

During an interview on the "Marc Cox Morning Show" on 97.1 FM in July of last year, Parson pledged to pardon the St. Louis couple.

"A mob does not have the right to charge your property," Parson said. "They had every right to protect themselves."

Parson delivered on his promise, as the McCloskeys were among the 12 pardons and two commutations he made Friday, which were later announced Tuesday.