The George Soros-backed prosecutor in St. Louis who prosecuted Mark and Patricia McCloskey for brandishing weapons while defending their home against trespassing protesters has been permanently removed from the case by the state Supreme Court after she launched fundraising emails based on the charges.
The Washington Examiner reported Missouri’s highest court affirmed a lower court decision that removed St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner from the case.
Gardner’s 2016 election campaign was bankrolled by the far-left Soros, which the Examiner reported was “part of an effort to place Democrats opposed to ‘tough on crime’ policies in top law enforcement jobs.’
District Judge Thomas Clark disqualified Gardner from the case after the couple’s lawyers argued her fundraising emails amounted to a personal interest and would jeopardize a fair result.
Gardner had tried to raise money by claiming that President Donald Trump and Republican Gov. Mike Parson were “fighting for the two who pointed guns at citizens during the Black Lives Matter protests.”
Richard Callahan, a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, now will handle the case.
Joel Schwartz, a lawyer for the couple, told KSDK-TV in St. Louis the move was as expected, “based on the careful, thoughtful ruling from Judge Tom Clark.”
Gardner had claimed her emails requesting money based on the case were innocent and that “not a single word in either campaign email [indicates] whether she would prosecute the defendants and how she might pursue an outcome in that case.”
But the trial court judge found that Gardner appeared to have “initiated a criminal prosecution for political purposes.”
The McCloskey’s were indicted by a local grand jury for displaying weapons while they were protecting their property from threatening BLM marchers.
Gov. Parson has vowed to pardon the couple if they are convicted, and state Attorney General Eric Schmitt has filed a motion to dismiss the case.
The couple, who spoke at the Republican National Convention, were charged for pointing an AR-15 rifle at protesters and wielding a semiautomatic handgun that was said to have made the protesters fearful of injury.
Mark McCloskey, at one of his courthouse appearances, explained: “We didn’t fire a shot. People were violently protesting in front of our house and screaming death threats and threats of rape and threats of arson. Nobody gets charged but we get charged.”
The case has been described by the couple’s defenders as a political prosecution.
See the incident:
In a video posted to social media, peaceful protesters in St. Louis calling for police reforms walked past a couple brandishing firearms as they were ordered to stay away from the couple’s home https://t.co/bYl06iAiTo pic.twitter.com/wOZ1Wr3yac
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 29, 2020
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