A Missouri judge ruled this week that Mark and Patricia McCloskey aren’t entitled to get their weapons back or have their fines remitted because they were pardoned by the governor after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges last year.
The McCloskeys pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and second-degree harassment, both misdemeanors, connected to a standoff with protesters in 2020.
The couple waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters who had entered a private road in front of their home in June 2020.
Mark McCloskey brought a lawsuit last year in which he alleged the couple was entitled to the Colt AR-15 rifle and a Bryco .380-caliber they were forced to surrender after their plea deal and the roughly $2,750 they were ordered to pay.
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The couple was pardoned by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, after they pleaded guilty.
Circuit Judge Joan Moriarty ruled Wednesday that the pardon had no bearing on the plea agreement.
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"Plaintiff and his wife are required to follow through with their end of the bargain," she wrote.
The McCloskeys were originally indicted on felony weapons charges.
They have said they felt threatened by the protesters.
"There was no evidence that any of them had a weapon and no one I interviewed realized they had ventured onto a private enclave," Richard Callahan, the special prosecutor who investigated the case said of the protesters in a news release.
