Mark McCloskey, an American lawyer from St. Louis, Missouri, will not be able to recover the two weapons he had entrusted to justice in July 2021, although he and his wife Patricia have been pardoned by the Republican governor of Missouri, Mike Parson. reports The Hill.
The couple had threatened protesters of the Black Lives Matter movement, which had spread across the United States in the summer of 2020 after the death at the hands of a white police officer of the African-American George Floyd. Judging that the protesters were getting too close to his property, Mark McCloskey and his wife came out armed in front of his home.
“His Guilt Remains”
As part of an agreement with the courts, the couple pleaded guilty in July 2021 and turned over two weapons to authorities: an AR-15 and a pistol. But in August 2021, the Republican governor of Missouri, Mike Parson, pardoned the lawyer and his wife.
The couple had thus initiated a new procedure to recover their weapons, as well as to obtain reimbursement for the legal expenses incurred. In vain.
“Although the clemency granted by the governor erases the plaintiff’s conviction record, his guilt remains and the conditions establishing guilt also remain,” Joan Moriarty, a Missouri judge who denied the McCloskeys’ request, said Wednesday.
The lawyer, who tried to get into politics, announced that he will appeal this rejection.
Source: BFM TV
