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Mark and Patricia McCloskey

I first addressed the bizarre, but constitutionally troubling, political prosecution of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, both St. Louis lawyers, in The McCloskeys and Kim Gardner: Not A Clue, on December 14 of 2020.  I made mention of their case again in Fearing The Rule of Law on December 29 of 2020.   Here’s an excerpt from that first article:

A small portion of the “peaceful protestors” besieging the Mc Closkeys
credit: nypost

As I’m sure you know, Mark and Patricia McCloskey are lawyers, and in the aftermath of massive and destructive rioting in St. Louis, a mob of hundreds of rioters expanded into the suburbs–the better to show evil white people they’re not safe anywhere–broke into their gated community, and trespassing on their property threatened rape, murder and arson. Reasonably, they brandished an AR-15 and a pistol, successfully deterring the participants in that particular ‘summer of love,’ many of who were armed with a variety of weapons, including at least one firearm.  No shots were fired, no one was injured, and the BLM and Antifa thugs eventually left the area.

One would think this a classic case of self-defense.  After all, the Supreme Court’s Heller decision essentially enshrined the right of Americans to keep and bear arms on their own property.  One would, however, be reckoning without local prosecutor Kim Gardner, one of many local prosecutors owing their position to money and political support from George Soros, one of the truly evil men alive today.  Gardner quickly charged the McCloskeys with unlawful use of a weapon among other offenses.  Nine of the hundreds of thugs were charged with trespassing, but Gardner quickly dismissed those charges.

Kim Gardner
credit: youtube.com

Gardner, a black prosecutor, rather than a prosecutor who happens to be black, went full leftist—never go full leftist—and ended up kicked off the case because of her extraordinary prosecutorial misconduct, such as using it for political, leftist fundraising.  It’s difficult to fully explain to those not steeped in the criminal justice system just how rare it is for a prosecutor to be removed from a case, but Gardner, obviously thinking herself as ideologically pure as she imagined herself to be politically invulnerable, managed it.  Prosecutors have enormous, virtually unrestrained power, which if abused can destroy lives, even end them, but for once, a corrupt prosecutor stepped over a very fine, hard to see, line.

Before we get into the disposition—mostly–of the McCloskey case, let’s take a quick side trip back to Gardner, as Bizpacreview.com reports:

A judge has set a murder suspect free after St. Louis County prosecutors failed to show up to court on three separate occasions, though the same department found the time to go after an area couple who defended their property with firearms after a Black Lives Matter mob broke into their gated community last summer.

They refer, of course, to the McCloskeys.

Last week, Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser dismissed charges of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and unlawful gun possession against Brandon Campbell, 30, when prosecutors from the Circuit Attorney’s Office did not attend hearings for the case in May, June, and July, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

‘The court does not take this action without significant consideration for the implications it may have for public safety,’ Sengheiser wrote in kicking the case.

‘Although presumed innocent, (Campbell) has been charged with the most serious of crimes. While the court has a role to play in protecting public safety, that role must be balanced with adherence to the law and the protection of the rights of the defendant,’ the judge continued.

It’s certainly not unheard of for defense attorneys to blow off a court date.  But for prosecutors to do it?!  Three times with the same defendant?!  That really is unheard of.  Even doing it once, particularly in a murder case, is normally enough for them to receive an epic ass-chewing from the involved judge.  Didn’t the judge find them in contempt?  That’s a TV/movie vehicle.  Judges, who are lawyers, seldom if ever hold another lawyer in contempt.  It’s a violation of the rules of their fraternity.  Normal Americans?  That’s another story.

Sengheiser then took aim at Kim Gardner’s office.

‘The Circuit Attorney’s Office is ultimately the party responsible for protecting public safety by charging and then prosecuting those it believes commit crimes,’ he wrote.

‘In a case like this where the Circuit Attorney’s office has essentially abandoned its duty to prosecute those it charges with crimes, the court must impartially enforce the law and any resultant threat to public safety is the responsibility of the Circuit Attorney’s Office.’

I’m surprised the judge didn’t let the bad guy go after the second failure of the prosecutors to appear.  Keep in mind an office like St. Louis has multiple assistant prosecutors, and multiple paralegals, and multiple secretaries, many of whose primary job is to be certain no one forgets court dates.  For that entire system to have blown off murder hearings—three times—indicates gross incompetence, a supreme lack of caring about actually enforcing the law, a focus on social rather than actual justice, or all three, perhaps more.

Gardner’s office issued a statement as well on Monday appearing to blame the abandonment of the case on ‘family medical leave.’

‘Upon review of our internal policies and procedures regarding family medical leave, we have determined that corrective measures are needed to further prevent any future repeat occurrence of the incident in question,’ Gardner’s statement said.

‘The suggestion, however, that there have been additional instances that have occurred like the one in question have not been substantiated.’

Continuing, Gardner noted, ‘Be assured that as the Circuit Attorney of the City of St. Louis, I am accountable to the public for the actions of the office and remain committed as ever to upholding the highest possible standards and practices of accountability at all levels of this office, particularly the public safety of the residents of the city of St. Louis. As a result, the individual in this case is (in) custody.’

Was he really?

St. Louis police, however, told the paper that Campbell remained at large as of publication time.

Take the link and read the whole thing.  Campbell is a very, very bad guy.  Again, even if the prosecutor assigned the Campbell case went on maternity leave, there is no possible excuse for that case not being routinely assigned to someone else.  The prosecutor on maternity leave certainly had access to telecommunications and e-mail.  One would think she would have sufficient concern for duty—and public safety—to make a few calls, write a few e-mails, just to ensure the case didn’t fall between the cracks.  And then there is the responsibility of Gardner to implement policies to ensure such things never happen.  What if an attorney came down with the flu overnight?  Does the murder/rape/domestic violence/child abuse trial scheduled for the next morning magically disappear?

She also faces legal discipline amid additional allegations of professional misconduct in a case involving former GOP Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who is now running for the U.S. Senate to replace retiring GOP Sen. Roy Blunt.

But it gets even better, gentle readers, as Ed Morrissey at Hot Air explains:

Late last night, the maternity leave excuse became even more threadbare. KSDK reports that Kim Arshi, the original prosecutor in the case who went on leave, has resigned after finding that someone used her electronic signature without her consent in as many as 28 cases — including the infamous case of Brandon Campbel

‘Someone signed the name of St. Louis’ lead homicide prosecutor onto at least 20 cases while she was on maternity leave earlier this year – and she resigned Tuesday, the I-Team has learned.

Kim Arshi began her maternity leave May 10. But her electronic signature appears on more than 20 cases in court documents listing her as the lead prosecutor – even though she was not in the office and did not sign them herself, according to a source familiar with the cases.

Arshi declined to comment. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment.’

What we’re looking at is essentially up to 28 cases of perjury, perhaps false swearing, or whatever the crime is called in Missouri.  Any prosecutor or police officer signing his name to an official document is swearing that document is not only accurate in every respect, but is complete, leaving nothing out.  Falsely signing documents, particularly by someone who doesn’t have a clue what’s in the document, is a crime.  Again, there can be no possible excuse for this, and it may even implicate fraud and other crimes.  More than 90 prosecutors have resigned since Gardner took officer in 2017.  This is what you get—good and hard—when you elect a Soros prosecutor.

On to the disposition—mostly—in the McCloskey case from local station Fox2now:

There will be no jail time for Mark and Patricia McCloskey after the St. Louis attorneys entered surprise guilty pleas in a gun waving case that brought them international fame.

The only point of contention in St. Louis court Thursday was what to do with the McCloskeys’ guns.

Mark McCloskey wanted his rifle to be disabled and donated to charity. That’s not happening.

He pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor. His wife pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment.

They were sentenced to pay the maximum fines: $750 for him, $2,000 for her. The weapons they brandished will be destroyed as a condition of their pleas.

Many Normal Americans were upset at this disposition.  They wanted the McCloskeys to defend themselves in court and even considered their pleas something of a betrayal.  I’ll explain why it really isn’t shortly.

Richard Callahan, a longtime judge and former U.S. attorney, was appointed special prosecutor after a judge in December ruled that Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner created an appearance of impropriety by mentioning the McCloskey case in fundraising emails before the August Democratic primary. Gardner went on to win reelection.

And the people of St. Louis are getting what they asked for, good and hard. Newsmax.com further explains:

The peacefully destroyed gate…

Avoiding felony gun charges, Mark and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges Thursday, settling a legal battle over whether the gun-toting couple broke laws in holding guns as protesters broke the gate and walked through their neighborhood last year.

‘He dropped all the felony charges, all the gun charges, and charged me with a crime that said I purposely placed other people in apprehension of imminent fear of physical injury — and, by God, I did it,’ McCloskey told Newsmax’s ‘Greg Kelly Reports.’

‘That’s what the guns were for. The guns were there to scare people off and make sure they didn’t approach us. And that’s what the guns did.

That’s what the Second Amendment was there for, and I couldn’t say no to that one,’ he added.

And there are the issues.  The McCloskeys engaged in lawful self-defense on their own property, using the threat of force to keep an angry and violent mob of hundreds from attacking them and their home.  No shots were fired, no one was injured, and any reasonable person in similar circumstances would have believed the McCloskey’s actions to have been necessary, reasonable and lawful.

Remember the few BLM thugs arrested saw their charges promptly dropped and Gardner persecuted the McCloskeys for daring to protect themselves.  In St. Louis, during that summer of love, there could have been no other course of action, which is why many Americans are upset: they wanted the McCloskeys to vindicate the fundamental, unalienable natural right of self-defense in court.

The problems for the McCloskeys were threefold.  The charges should never have been brought, and when Gardner was removed from the case, the special prosecutor should have dismissed the charges.  When he refused—he didn’t want his home burned down by mostly peaceful protestors—the McCloskeys—remember they well knew the local justice system and political system—realized they didn’t have a prayer of getting a fair trial, and could have ended up in prison, convicted felons.  As convicted felons, they would have lost their right to possess firearms.  Local BLM thugs, well informed by sympathetic media, would surely have taken advantage of that disability.  The very fact the special prosecutor dropped multiple felonies and accepted a plea to a single misdemeanor clearly illustrates the farcical reality of the case.

Missouri’s governor, Mike Parson, repeatedly said he’d pardon the McCloskeys if convicted, but a felony conviction would give the Missouri Bar cover to disbar the McCloskeys, setting up a years long, fiendishly expensive, legal battle to recover their law licenses after a pardon.  Combine this with Mark McCloskey’s run for the US Senate, and their plea to a misdemeanor was an inherently reasonable thing for them to do.

Governor Parson has yet to pardon their misdemeanor convictions, but I suspect he’s merely waiting for an opportune moment.  The lesson for citizens of St. Louis, if not Missouri generally, is there very well may be no right to self-defense in the state, particularly not if one defends themselves against BLM, Antifa, or some other politically favored group of Marxist, anarchic thugs.  This, gentle readers, is what D/S/Cs have in mind for us all.