St. Louis McCloskey Kim Gardner
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, stand in front their house along Portland Place confronting protesters marching to St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson's house in the Central West End of St. Louis. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, File)
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A St. Louis grand jury has just added a new charge against the St. Louis couple who defended their property when a crowd of protesters trespassed in their Central West End neighborhood in June. Mark and Patricia McCloskey had already been charged by prosecutor Kim Gardner with felony use of a weapon. Today it was announced that a grand jury has handed down an indictment and added an evidence tampering charge against the two attorneys.

From KMOV.com:

Afterward, Mark McCloskey expressed frustration with the fact no protesters were charged in the incident.

“They broke down our gate, they trespassed on our property. Not a single one of those people are now charged with anything,” Mark McCloskey stated. “We’re charged with felonies that could cost us four years of our lives and our law license.”

The new charge adds more complication to the situation facing the McCloskeys. However Missouri Governor Mike Parson, in a July radio interview, indicated that the couple won’t be facing and jail time, no matter how the criminal case against them goes, saying he’d likely pardon them if it gets to that point.

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103 COMMENTS

  1. Well, at least until recently, they were burning Liberals. Time to reap what they have sewn. For decades, they were hoping that this would happen to others, but now it happened to them. Oh, well…

    • Where’s your evidence supporting that blatant lie?
      He has a political donation history of supporting personal friends and business associates, and Trump. She has a personal history of donating to Trump.

    • Gotta love the card checking going on. Even if he was, don’t you want allies? I am your firing breathing leftist. I support on demand abortion. I support universal healthcare. I support raising the marginal tax rate for anything above a million dollars earned in a year to 90%.

      And you need me.

      I not only vote Democrat, I am employed by a committee of them in a state that is completely blue. And since you “true believers” bamboozled gun rights organizations into believing that they should only support the ever-shrinking ranks of the republican party, I am one of the few voices in my state that helps stop bad gun legislation.

      You keep treating this like a culture war and the blue voters are going to keep treating it like one, too. Your team isn’t winning that battle. Not on demographics, ideology, or votes. So maybe next time you feel like pulling your smug ass hick conservative flag out and waiving it high, you should, instead: shut up.

      Gun rights are more important than your idiotic need to be holier than thou. The personal injury lawyer in this incident was an imbecile (not quite as dumb as his wife) and didn’t know the first thing about the proper way to handle firearms. Low ready. Don’t aim at civilians. Stop, for Christ’s sake, waiving the pistol in the air (wife). Your knuckleheaded comment is the propaganda equivalent.

      But, hey, maybe your desire to support gun rights is less important to you than your need to lord some imaginary win over some vaguely defined “liberals.”

      • Wolfie, don’t get all hung up on what some troll has posted.

        Often imitated, never duplicated, accept no substitutes, I am Miner49er!

        And it is the prosecutors duty to present the case to the grand jury, y’all should be cussing the grand jury who voted the true bill and not the prosecutor.

        “Missouri Governor Mike Parson, in a July radio interview, indicated that the couple won’t be facing and jail time, no matter how the criminal case against them goes, saying he’d likely pardon them if it gets to that point.”

        And it is interesting to note the Republican Missouri governor is all too willing to discard that pesky ‘jury of your peers’ stuff as enshrined in the Constitution, and just go with political expediency, huzzah!

        • Except for the fact that the Governor of Missouri and most states, is specifically granted that power to wield for precisely this reason. We have checks and balances. The Judicial can check the Legislative, and the Executive can check the Judicial. All our systems fail from time to time, that’s why we have overlapping fields of power, to help execute justice.

        • No, the prosecutor doesn’t *have* to take it to the grand jury at all.

          The one utterly incontrovertible fact in this case is that a group of hundreds trespassed on private property — a blatant crime, for which no one has been charged. Yet the McCloskeys are being charged for the doubtful act of displaying weapons in response to the crime they witnessed.

          It reeks of political gamesmanship, to say the least.

        • So the Missouri governor, who is not an officer of the court, did not sit through the trial and hear the witnesses testimony, did not have an opportunity to examine the evidence, did not view any video or audio recordings of the incident and did not hear the attorneys arguments is qualified to completely ignore the jury of their peers verdict and render a pardon?

          Yep, sounds like blind justice to me.

          Of course you know, by accepting a pardon they’ll be admitting guilt and will lose their law license for life, an outcome upon which I concur.

  2. The governor’s statement was, it’s fair to say, quite a bit more hedged than some made it out to be. Lots of ‘if’s’. He could have stepped in already.

    I imagine the evidence tampering comes from them thinking they were Very Smart and trying to make it seem like the pistol was disabled and somehow not a threat. I forget the term but there’s a “law” of forensics where somebody trying to cover up evidence almost invariably creates more evidence through their actions. It’s why anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to “drag the body inside” if they shoot a burglar on the front porch is following the wrong advice.

    Printing up cards commemorating this nonsense is very cute but if they have a lawyer, he’s facepalming about these two (or happy that they may end up paying for his new boat). Kenosha Kyle, on the other hand, has done the right thing- STFU and let his lawyer work. Well, that and his case is much, much better.

    • The pistol was disabled when it was used for a court prop.
      It was disabled years later in 2020 when it was turned over to police.

      I don’t believe any evidence exists to support the theory that it was enabled between the two known points in time.

        • A grand jury mostly does what the prosecutor tells it to do.

          In Louisville, the prosecutor decided that killing Taylor was not a crime, and then presented carefully selected evidence to the grand jury concerning everything but the homicide. They weren’t given the option to indict on the charges that the mob would want them to indict for.

        • @GS650G

          The first black Republican AG lied. He did not recommend any charges for the Breonna case. He had his office present evidence for the wanton endangerment only. Then he gave a press conference claiming the jury decided the shooting was self defense. If you listen carefully you will notice he said he is the one that decided not to bring charges on the cops. He eventually admitted to it and blamed the jury (again) for not doing their job of bringing charges themselves.

          The grand jury wanted to charge but didn’t have the evidence because the AG office didn’t investigate the crime and provide them with the evidence necessary. The AG took the “evidence” given to them by the LMPD as is and did not do their own work. The AG then crafted a coverup for his buddies and protected them as he promised he would do. He is now going on Fox news to defend himself.

          By the way, I hear he was on Trump’s list for the supreme court nomination.

  3. “Railroaded by a Communist Controlled Court System!!! ” ( Violations of US constitutional-Bill of Rights…US code: Deprivation/Suppression of Rights Under color of Law…And if I remember correctly, pro2@ laws of that state…..)

    • The McCloskey’s could’ve easily sat right in their home and watched the parade of protesters march down the street to the mayors house, without any risk to themselves or their property.

      They could’ve sat at their dining room table and lovingly polished the long hard barrel of their rifles without committing any crimes whatsoever, enjoying the safety and security of their home while polishing their bullets.

      It was their decision to arm themselves, exit the safety of their home and shout at the protesters, all while pointing their firearms at humans who had presented no threat to them.

      It’s a simple as that, and we’ll soon see a plea deal so they may avoid jail time and hopefully retain their law license.

    • Well from the post that you apparently failed to read: Not a single one of those people are now charged with anything,” Mark McCloskey stated.

      So the answer, to the best of our knowledge is “No.”

    • It’s questionable whether rioters were threatening them or even on their property. They live in a private community and the gate wasn’t theirs. They have had suits against the HOA claiming community property as theirs. Yes, the rioters were trespassing, but not necessarily on McCloskey property, and simple trespassing isn’t justification for lethal force. I think the McCloskeys overreacted and fit more into the “Irresponsible Gun Owner” category than champions of self-defense. They certainly didn’t display good trigger or muzzle discipline. Had they stood at their door with their guns pointed at the ground, I’d be 100% behind them.

      • Wrong. There is zero question that the trespassers were on the McCloskeys literal, private property. That section of the street, even, is on their parcel of land within the Private Street. The records are public information.

        • Didn’t the HOA say they don’t own the street? It’s a shared part. An easement for the neighborhood. And they were got in trouble before because they thought it was theirs.

          So now they are going to court for being a repeat offender.

        • Perhaps the question is are they being taxed for that piece of property. It either belongs to them, and they are liable for property tax, or it does not belong to them, and they should not be paying tax on it.

        • So chip, you are giving us the impression you’ve seen the public records showing that the McCloskey’s own the street in front of their home.

          Please share with us the parcel number and the owner listing so that we may find those records for ourselves.

          Thanks!

        • Chip posted all the links in the original articles months back. This is not a HOA like most in the USA. This is a literal private street owned by all those that live there. The gate was private property. These were trespassers. By MO law, which Chip also linked to in the original articles the Mc’s could have legally shot the trespassers. While I don’t agree trespassing is a death scentence, the Mc’s did what they thought was right at the time and should be given a fair trial according to the law of the state they live (which would be no trial, because charges should not be brought), and not just a knee jerk reaction regarding their “GuNz”.

    • No. The police refereed charges for nine individuals for trespassing and both the prosecutor and the trustees of that street association declined to prosecute.

      • What is the purpose of living in a gated community and then the HOA won’t agree to prosecute people that break a gate/fence to come in?

        Give me a break! That is the whole reason anyone would live in a gated community(a jail of your own making). The HOA should be sued and disbanded.

  4. Jesus, Joseph, and Mary!! The legal system in most of this country is way out of control!!!! This and letting 10’s of thousands of convicted dangerous felons out of the slam, not prosecuting rioting, looting, etc. , and many more egregious lawyer shenanigans and the USA will cease to exist as a functioning nation.

    Unless we get serious about reforming it, it will just continue to go off the rails!!

  5. Good. Elitist liberals escalated a non-violent situation and threatened lives. Now they lie about the event and pretend to be SA Champions.

    Throw the book at them!!!!

    • Wow they are multi millionaire elitist attorneys, I don’t think they are liberals, too many donations to trump to support that idea.

      • They’ve supported liberal causes for years both with cash money and legal services.

        These people are super litigious. They sue their own family, neighbors, they try to seize property they do not own and have threatened neighbors with guns before over trespassing on land they were suing to take over. These are neighbors from hell. They actually destroyed the bee hives of children from a local Jewish school and threatened lawsuits and violence against them.

        These have never been nice people. They took a non-threatening situation and escalated it stupidly.

        Police did arrest some trespassers but for entering the private neighborhood street, not the lawyer’s mansion or grounds. Were those two lawyers suing the city and the police for failure to arrest and prosecute all the people who entered the neighborhood illegally, I’d be cheering for them.

        Instead those two fuckwits are goddamned poster children for gun control.

        Fuck ’em.

        • This is a perspective I had not considered. Who says you can’t change somebody’s mind by debating on the internet? I’ll probably not take the time to go research all these claims, but just file them away under “I heard that…” and be glad I’m not involved in these peoples’ mess. Thanks for posting that, except for your last sentiment. I would caution you against that. It sounds like they might sue.

  6. Grand Juries used to be the bulwark against kangaroo courts. Now, it seems they’ve been co-opted as well. It’s all an attempt to chill those of us who don’t lay down and let the lawless (who to-date have not been subject to the law) intimidate, walk all over us and destroy our property.

    They’re vilifying people protecting their home…WHERE THEY SLEEP. I don’t see how anyone can go against that, but mankind’s spectrum of intelligence is expanding on both ends (the smart get smarter, the dumb get dumber). It almost feels like a race at this point.

    When there is no more equal protection under the law, you no longer have liberty, you have tyranny. And we should not suffer that yoke.

    • “They’re vilifying people protecting their home”

      No one threatened anyone until the shyster family broke out the guns and pointed them at people.

      And the record shows that this is not the first time they’ve pulled that kind of stunt over people walking across HOA property.

      The grand jury saw the evidence, not you, so I would say their conclusion has more validity than your baseless speculation.

      • We were just Peacefully Protesting until we were senselessly assaulted by White Supremacist Devils….then we had to storm their castle in self defense.

        Yeah, right.

        • “then we had to storm their castle”

          Fake news and alternative facts, there was no one trespassing on the McCloskey’s property.

          And the homeowners association refused to prosecute any of the protesters who marched up the street.

          Come on you guys, give it up, these are a pair of multi millionaire elitist trial lawyers who are giving potg a bad name because of their belligerent and illegal gun play.

    • “Grand Juries used to be the bulwark against kangaroo courts. Now, it seems they’ve been co-opted as well. ”

      Grand Juries are not made up of “better” people than regular juries. No matter how righteous we believe our actions, juries are not our peers…but they are your fabled “reasonable person”.

      BTW, a Grand Jury is also an example of who you gamble on when you decide, “Better to be judged by 12..” Still a better option than being carried by 6, but know what you are up against.

      • We should just do the South Africa thing, we should be like them. Can’t let “those people” decide cases.

      • A “Grand Jury” is there so the DA doesn’t have to do his real job. They indict and the DA doesn’t get the political fallout for the same, or they indict unwinnable cases, so the DA keeps a better record. The best thing about a Grand Jury is that even the mayor or DA can be indicted.
        Whether or not a conviction is likely depends on who gets to prosecute.

    • Old European law does not allow for deadly force to be used to protect private property. The US follows such a concept. You are not allowed to kill anyone over property crimes. Deadly force is only allowed during wartime and when you are under an immediate threat of grievous bodily harm or death. We are not at war.

      Republicans always said before BLM that property is not worth a person’s life, call the cops and file an insurance claim.

      • If someone comes onto your ranch and starts killing your livestock(or even endangering them with obvious intent), you are saying that deadly force is inappropriate? That is a property crime. What about bank burglary(at night with explosives to break the safe)? This is another property crime.

        I would be tempted to shoot them to get them to stop(if they died, my intent would be between God and myself).

  7. Good news is the Gov. has said he will pardon the accused.
    This is nothing more.than sicko Gun Control Zealots taking their disdain for Firearms out on people who were forced to become impromptu police to defend life and property. If this were Salem the punishment would be hanging or being barbequed alive.
    Gun Control? It’s an agenda rooted in racism and genocide and it’s sick supporters need to be defeated once and for all.

    • Kenosha County DA is a corrupt bastard who loves to persecute self defense cases.

      Gardner is just doing Soros’ bidding to repay him for the election.

  8. The trespassers just beat the rap. That makes prosecuting the mcloskys easier because the criminals were not committing crimes.

    This is what happens when democrats move goal posts.

      • No, there were 9 that were arrested…

        “St. Louis officials said Tuesday that they will not prosecute nine Black Lives Matter protesters who were arrested and charged with trespassing on the private property of a gun-wielding couple.”

        • The Libertarians can be happy that drug charges are being dropped as well. Users aren’t being prosecuted. The DA thinks like a Libertarian.

        • Of course I could be wrong. Our media is not very good at giving detail, but when the articles first came out they clearly stated that they had been sent summonses. This was a good while after the incident.

    • Maybe because the home owners association didn’t press charges? The McCloskeys don’t own the neighborhood nor the streets and sidewalks.

      • Hey chief, you are providing too many facts.

        It’s like trying to teach a pig to sing, you only waste your time and annoy the pig.

  9. Just wondering if a pardon expunges the conviction, or are they still federally prohibited from possessing firearms or subject to any other restriction applied to convicted felons?

      • He has the power to end the whole circus by pardoning them now, saving the McCloskeys and the taxpayers a bunch of money.
        But he isn’t doing that, is he?

  10. The woman is brandishing her firegunm, its pointed at the crowd and her finger is in the trigger guard. Would you want to be in that crowd? Should you be on her property? No and no and yes she is brandishing a firegunm.

      • Well somebody broke down a gate, if I enter I’m on somebody’s property uninvited, that’s criminal trespass, and if I stand in front of your place yelling ” I’m going burn your house down” ( oh shucks now Gasoline Seether is in my head) I figure you might pull a gunm on me. They were wrong, McCloskey’s were wrong, two wrongs don’t make a right unless your turning left three times.

  11. Meh…have your chit together rich mouthpieces! Will they beat the BS charges? Yep. Would us less well off folks win?!?

  12. 1. The libertarians

    “Libertarian Party Chair Tweets That Armed Lawyers Defending Their Property Are Criminals”
    https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/libertarian-party-chair-tweets-that-armed-lawyers-defending-their-property-are-criminals/

    2. And the socialists both agree.

    “The St. Louis Gun Couple Can Stand Their Ground on a Racist Legal Doctrine”

    https://www.motherjones.com/anti-racism-police-protest/2020/07/the-st-louis-gun-couple-can-stand-their-ground-on-a-racist-legal-doctrine/

    You don’t have private property rights.
    You don’t have gun rights.
    But you do have the right to take drugs.

    • The Libertarian party does not equal libertarians.

      Do you want the albatross of John McCain and Mitt Romney hanging around your neck? How about Pat Toomey? Plenty of republicans politicians have done and said things that the majority of republicans don’t agree with or support.

      The vast majority of libertarians have nothing at all to do with the Libertarian party. The party is typically run by failed republicans and democrats who seek to use the established party mechanism as vehicle for their ambitions after they get run out of one of the other two parties.

      • You seem to be catching on. Conservative republican voters stayed home when it came to voting for RINO’s like McCain and Romney.

        The next time a Libertarian gets elected to the congress. It would be very educational for the entire country, if he or she would use the microphone. Like former congressman Bob Doran did. You can say a whole lot in 1 or 2 minutes. The problem is very few libertarians know how to use the system to their advantage. When they have access to it.

        “Congressman Gets Banned: Rep. Dornan’s One-Minute Speech on Bill Clinton (1995)”
        video 10 min long
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esp3QIBEV58&t=245s

    • Again, Chris, it isn’t their property.

      The land the protesters were on is Portland Place homeowners association property and the HOA declined to prosecute trespassers.

  13. And all the trespassing charges against people who smashed their way onto private property to display weapons and shout threats were dropped. Welcome to the era of leftist morality policing.

  14. They didn’t break down the gate. They didn’t trespass the McCloskeys’ home.

    I predicted the lawyers would get charged. I knew the moment the lawyer took possession of the gun, did whatever he was doing with it, turned it in to the police after the warrant was served at the home and jumped off the case. It looked like the lawyer took the gun in an effort to obstruct justice and interfere with an investigation. It appeared he took apart the gun and put it together improperly so the McCloskeys couldn’t be charged via the letter of the law. It was very obvious when he handed over the gun in a bag and left the case.

    The McCloskeys’ argument was the handgun can’t function, well, it can if you put it together properly. The handgun is still a firearm and we don’t know if they disabled it before walking outside to use it. On top of that, the AR-15 was said to be in working order. The McCloskeys were working together to commit the crime, so they both get charged. Now they must argue why they are not guilty of what they were caught on video doing.

    They probably will get convicted because their story is full of lies and it doesn’t make sense that they would disable a gun to use it to defend themselves from a deadly mob. I think they will try to plea out to save their ambulance chasing business.

    • You can’t do what the McCloskeys were threatening to do, you can’t even threaten to do it. This is America, there is law and order still. Common law is what it is, be proud of it. You must call the government to help you with these issues, you can’t take the law into your own hands by using violence. You can’t act like the Native Americans, that’s just savagery, which is wholly unacceptable to Western culture.

      • I think he fucked up when he said he fired the weapon, the minute he said that you could tell that’s what they was waiting on. If you really want to see a cop get pissed is keep your mouth shut and go for the lawyer offer. At least you can tell your cellmates of forty days and forty nights that your waiting on your lawyer

        • Yeah, I had to wait three days for my attorney, cooling my heels in the central booking unit in Brooklyn with a bunch of ne’er-do-wells.

          You know, the cops let me keep my cash.
          (The charge was attempted murder so I think they were a intimidated by me)

          When I did get in front of the judge, he saw the charge was bogus and let me out on $5k bond.

          Man, you should’ve seen the fellas I was locked up with eyes get big when I pulled the cash out of my pocket and paid my bond.

        • Really, let you keep your cash and wear your street clothes too . Everytime I been arrested it was finger prints, remove clothes, bend over cough,jumpsuit, cell.

    • More anarchy, cities on fire as “peaceful protesters” set fires, block traffic and prevent LE and FD from approaching the fires.

      “Video of the protests shows a large group of people wearing traditional black hats and long suits — few of whom are wearing masks — surrounding what appears to be a rubbish fire in the street. It is not clear how the fire began.

      At one point, when individuals in “Sheriffs” jackets are present on the scene, the crowd can be heard chanting “go” and “sheriffs go home.” When the Fire Department arrived, a crowd approaches the truck, with some chanting for the authorities to leave.
      The video captures NYPD also arriving to the scene. At one point an MTA bus appears to be blocked by the crowd as it tries to move through the street.”

      When the violence from religious extremists stop?

  15. The McCloskey Case is part of an anti-self defense meme that was created by the Left and is being expanded by the prosecution of Kyle Rittenhouse and the now frequently heard claim that all the violence, arson and looting we’ve seen since Memorial Day weekend was “perpetrated by violent White Supremacists”. The intention of this new web of lies and disinformation is to further dissuade the American Middle Class from any attempt to actively defend themselves from the Leftist coup d’etat planned for post election (if Trump wins) and the Leftist-Democrat dissolution of the Constitutional Republic planned for post election if Biden-Harris wins.

    Either way, the Left intends to take power in the United States and impoverish and subdue the American Middle Class (AMC). This because the AMC is the largest population group in the U.S. [that includes all races and ethnic sub groups], and is well armed {for now}, well educated, technologically and practically knowledgeable, contains thousands of capable Military Veterans, many more willing Patriots, cumulatively holds great wealth and has reasons to unite across all groups because it is NOT fundamentally racist as the Left would have you believe.

    The AMC has found a leader in Donald J. Trump and rallied around him…not because he is perfect, but because he says what they want/need to hear, does what they think is right and is perceived as truly loving the American Constitutional Republic and representing the best interest of the American Middle Class aka “The Silent Majority”.

    The AMC has a host of enemies stacked against them including deeply corrupted Federal, State and local Governments, a corrupted Left-biased Legal System, a Left-biased News Media that is actually a Propaganda Machine for their enemies, Tech Giants that are fundamentally Left-controlled, a collection of immensely wealthy Oligarchs who want to rule unchallenged, the Chinese Communists, a Public Educational System (including Colleges and Universities) that is actively engaged in anti-America brainwashing of the Nation’s children and young people…to name a few..

    Beyond all that, the AMC has an internal enemy, as well. We basically, operate on a law-abiding, live and let live Judaeo-Christian founded morality. We mind our own business, expect others to do the same, and trust that things will work-out for the best in the long run. Under present circumstances this turns-out to be an Achilles heel in the face of an enemy avowedly intent on destroying who we are and how we live. Our enemies understand this and have used/are using it against us with consistent success.

    To survive we may have to do things we would “normally” consider unthinkable. Now is not, however, a “normal time” largely owing to the COVID-19 Pandemic and our sworn enemies are using this abnormal time to every advantage they can leverage.

    If we truly are a “Silent Majority” that is stirring and waking-up to an unpleasant reality, we need to rub the sleep out of our collective eyes, unite and commit to doing whatever we must and take whatever risks are necessary to reclaim, repair and preserve our lives and liberty. Once, again, we must choose to do what is hard because it is hard. The choice has been made for us by an essentially ruthless and implacable enemy.

    • Dairy, you are scary…

      Oh no, there ain’t no such animal as violent white supremacists…

      “An Illinois-based white supremacist group linked to a mosque attack and an attempted abortion clinic bombing had stockpiled guns and explosives to wage a revolution against the federal government, according to reports.

      Michael Hari, the suspected leader of the White Rabbit Militia group, is due to go on trial in connection to the bombing of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. No one was killed or injured during the attack, which took place just before morning prayers on August 5, 2017.
      According to court documents, the group carried out the attack on the mosque “because Hari and his men hated Islam and wanted Muslims out of the United States.”
      Hari is also accused of the attempted bombing of the Women’s Health Practice abortion clinic in Champaign, Illinois, on November 7, 2017. Two other men—Joe Morris and Michael McWhorter—have already pleaded guilty for their role in the attack, in which a pipe bomb was thrown through the clinic’s window but failed to detonate.
      The new court documents show how the “paramilitary terrorist organization” stockpiled weapons and equipment including devices to jam cell phone signals to wage a war against those they did not like.
      The photos also show badges the far-right militia group wore, including one reading “ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun” and another in which they refer to themselves as “pork eating crusaders.”
      Court documents showed Morris and McWhorter had robbed a Walmart store in Watseka, Illinois, in December 2017 because they believed that Walmart funded antifa. The pair, along with Hari, are accused of attempting to rob a Walmart store in Mount Vernon, Illinois, that month for the same reason.
      The three are also accused of planting an incendiary device to vandalize a segment of railroad track used by the Canadian National Railway. Hari is then alleged to have called Canadian National Railway to demand they send digital currency or they would carry out more attacks.”

  16. This article is pretty much the flip side of TL:DR — Too Short and a Complete Waste of Time Reading. The comments however fully qualify as TL:DR. The few that I read randomly skimming down were almost entirely idiots arguing with other idiots with strong feelings an no knowledge.

    In the vast majority of states, the McCloskeys would have been guilty of “Aggravated Assault” or “Assault with a Deadly Weapon”, BUT Missouri law is very different. Under Missouri law, it seems likely that any competent attorney should get an acquittal on the “unlawful use of a firearm” charge.

    The much more interesting charge — which the article totally ignores — is the Evidence Tampering charge. What evidence are they being charged with tampering and how/when did they tamper with it?

    Is the evidence tampering charge related to the firearms that were seized by police where her pistol was inoperative? That is what is being said in some media, but those same media don’t have the actual charges so they are going off statements by the McCloskeys and their attorney.

    One piece of evidence that has never been made public would be any security video from the McCloskey’s home. You can’t tell me that their McMansion doesn’t have security cameras outside. Where is that video?!?

    The St. Louis MO Patch reports: “there is no evidence any protesters were violent during the confrontation. While the McCloskeys claim protesters smashed through a gate, video shows the gate open and protesters freely walking through it prior to the confrontation. It’s not clear how the gate was damaged or who damaged it. And while the McCloskeys claim protesters threatened them, none of the videos show it. The couple initially said they armed themselves because of those threats, but later told KMOV, “the threats happened probably after we got the guns.””

    Bottom line: Their gun use was tactically and legally STUPID, but may not have been illegal. A lot will depend on how “reasonable” a jury thinks their actions were. While the McCloskeys have made a big deal of proclaiming themselves heroes who saved the entire neighborhood, one simple fact is that the protestors did no damage to any property (except perhaps the gate to the subdivision) and were NOT on the McCloskey’s property when the McCloskeys charged outside waving guns around and screaming at the crowd who were walking down the street heading to an entirely different house down the street.

    Were the McCloskeys scared? Certainly! At least she appears terrified in the videos. But was their fear “reasonable” — and particularly was it “reasonable” before they went outside to provoke a confrontation? This is a point where the security video would be important evidence for a jury to consider! All the video we have seen so far, shows what happened AFTER the McCloskeys started yelling and waving guns – and people started yelling back at them. But what was the situation before that? Did the McCloskeys run outside in response to something the protestors said or did that could be seen as a threat? Or did they simply panic at the sight of ‘those people’ in their private gated neighborhood?

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