St. Louis Prosecutor Ousted from McCloskey Case After She ‘Initiated a Criminal Prosecution for Political Purposes,’ Court Says

A St. Louis, Missouri, attorney has been barred from prosecuting Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who were charged after they were seen on video warding off rioters with guns outside their luxury home in June during nationwide unrest.

Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner was accused of having “initiated a criminal prosecution for political purposes” after it was found that she had circulated two fundraising emails about the case to aid her re-election bid, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The McCloskey legal team argued that Gardner circulated one such email weeks ahead of the Democratic primary in August, the local outlet reported.

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The McCloskeys’ Lawyer Wants St. Louis Prosecutor Kim Gardner Disqualified After She Fundraised off the McCloskey Case

Attorneys representing Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who displayed firearms after a group of protesters broke a gate and approached their private property, want St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner disqualified from the case after she cited her prosecution of the pair in a fundraising email for her re-election campaign.

The McCloskeys’ attorneys included in Wednesday’s motion two fundraising emails from Gardner’s reelection campaign that clearly referred to the McCloskey case, according to court documents reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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St. Louis Prosecutor’s Office Appears to Have Tampered with Evidence in McCloskey Gun Case

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s staff appears to have tampered with evidence in order to press charges against the St. Louis woman who waved a gun at the Black Lives Matter rioters who stormed her neighborhood last month.

Patricia McCloskey’s gun was inoperable when she voluntarily surrendered it to the police, but prosecutors reassembled it into working order so they could charge her with a crime.

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Hawley Seeks Civil Rights Probe in Case of St. Louis Couple

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley on Thursday urged Attorney General William Barr to launch a federal civil rights investigation of St. Louis’ elected prosecutor, accusing her of abuse of power in her investigation of a white couple who wielded guns while defending their home during a protest.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey are under Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s scrutiny for the June 28 confrontation when several hundred protesters marched by their $1.15 million mansion. The couple accused protesters of knocking down an iron gate marked with “No Trespassing” and “Private Street” signs.

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