St. Louis, MO — News broke yesterday that a grand jury in St. Louis has indicted the now-famous McCloskeys, Mark and Kim, for their actions on June 23rd when the couple displayed two guns after hundreds of Black Lives Matter protestors broke onto their property.
An attorney for the couple, Al Watkins, confirmed that Mark McCloskey, 63, and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, 61 are facing the felony indictment, including a new charge of ‘tampering with evidence.’
The couple were grilling dinner on the back veranda of their sweeping property when BLM protestors broke down their back gate and entered the clearly marked private roadway that leads to their property. The couple asked the protestors to leave and informed them they were on private property.
The mob grew angry and threatened to kill the couple and their dog and burn their house down.
Clear Cut Case Of ‘Stand Your Ground’….Right?
But George Soros’ bought-and-paid for Prosecuting Attorney Kim Gardner dropped all charges against nine protestors who were arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing after the incident. This despite the fact that they had had forcibly broken a gate and trespassed on private property.
Instead, according to the anti-gun leftists at MSN:
Gardner charged the couple with felony unlawful use of a weapon. She said the display of guns risked bloodshed at what she called an otherwise peaceful protest.
[Attorney Al] Watkins said that in addition to the weapons charge, the grand jury indictment includes a tampering with evidence charge. It wasn’t clear what led to that additional count, he said.
The McCloskeys contend the protest was hardly peaceful. They say protesters came onto the private street after knocking over an iron gate and ignoring a “No Trespassing sign,” and said they felt threatened.
Watkins said accusations against the McCloskeys are “effectively demonstrating the highest degree of ineptitude and inappropriate behavior” from Gardner’s office.
Outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Mark McCloskey spoke to reporters after learning he and his wife would face the indictment. He commented, saying,
“The government chooses to persecute us for doing no more than exercising our right to defend ourselves, our home, our property and our family and now we’re getting drug here time after time after time and for what? 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.”
Of course, a spokeswoman for Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner declined to comment.
Your Gun Rights Don’t Exist If The Prosecuting Attorney Says They Don’t
This case has grabbed the interest of conservatives because gun owners know that Missouri has a fantastic Stand Your Ground law. This case should have been an open-and-shut example of why American’s need laws like Stand Your Ground!
Instead, St. Louis’s leftist prosecuting attorney is pretending that Stand Your Ground doesn’t exist and is going after the McCloskeys to make an example of them.
Gardner wants to send a message to gun owners: even if you’re in the right, you’ll pay dearly if you dare to defend yourself against the left’s shock troops.