St. Louis: The McCloskeys Are Indicted. Prosecutor’s Office Reassembled Their Gun to Make It ‘Lethal’

A grand jury indicted Mark and Patricia McCloskey on charges of exhibiting guns at protesters in a June incident in their neighborhood and added a charge of tampering with evidence for both members of the couple.

It is bizarre that the McCloskeys were charged with tampering with evidence when the office of the prosecuting Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who was funded by George Soros, ordered the crime lab to reassemble Patricia McCloskey’s handgun to fire as it had been disabled, and the prosecutors tampered with evidence. The gun was intentionally made inoperable by the McCloskeys because it was used as a prop in a trial. In Missouri, police and prosecutors must prove that a weapon is “readily” capable of lethal use.

Prosecutor Gardner’s office is denying people a legal defense of their property with lethal force under what’s known as the Castle Doctrine. Prosecutors refused to bring charges against nine protesters who broke down a gate and trespassed on private property.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson has said he will pardon the couple if they are convicted.

The gun Patricia McCloskey waved at protesters was inoperable when it arrived at the St. Louis police crime lab, but a member of Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s staff ordered crime lab experts to disassemble and reassemble it and wrote that it was “readily capable of lethal use” in charging documents filed Monday, 5 On Your Side has learned.

In Missouri, police and prosecutors must prove that a weapon is “readily” capable of lethal use when it is used in the type of crime with which the McCloskeys have been charged.

Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Hinckley ordered crime lab staff members to field strip the handgun and found it had been assembled incorrectly. Specifically, the firing pin spring was put in front of the firing pin, which was backward, and made the gun incapable of firing, according to documents obtained by 5 On Your Side.

Firearms experts then put the gun back together in the correct order and test-fired it, finding that it worked, according to the documents.

Crime lab workers photographed the disassembly and reassembly of the gun, according to the documents.

Patricia McCloskey and her husband, Mark McCloskey, have said the handgun Patricia McCloskey waved at protesters was inoperable because they had used it as a prop during a lawsuit they once filed against a gun manufacturer. In order to bring it into a courtroom, they made it inoperable.

Their attorney, Joel Schwartz, confirmed to 5 On Your Side that the McCloskeys intentionally misplaced the firing pin on the gun and that it was in that condition when Patricia McCloskey waved it at protesters and turned it into their former attorney Al Watkins.

“It’s disheartening to learn that a law enforcement agency altered evidence in order to prosecute an innocent member of the community,” Schwartz said.

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Additional source:

https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/st-louis-grand-jury-indicts-mccloskeys-on-gun-charges-tampering-with-a-weapon/63-c1e66184-f973-4076-8d1b-3832365ad119