Court puts law licenses of couple who waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters on probation

The Missouri Supreme Court has put a St. Louis couple who waved their guns at protesters during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in the summer of 2020 on probation as attorneys, NPR station KCUR reported. 

The court on Tuesday suspended the law licenses of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, but stayed the suspensions and put both on probation for a year, according to KCUR. This means that the McCloskeys’ law licenses could be suspended indefinitely if they violate the terms of their probation.

During their probation, the McCloskeys must provide 100 hours of pro bono legal work, KCUR reported. They are also required to note through written quarterly reports any arrests, criminal charges, civil lawsuits, disputes with clients, investigations that question the couple’s fitness to practice law and other disciplinary complaints.

The couple made national headlines after a video showing them waving their guns at protesters outside their home in June 2020 went viral. Mark McCloskey had an AR-15-style rifle and Patricia McCloskey was armed with a semiautomatic pistol.

Last year, Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault with a $750 fine and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of harassment with a $2,000 fine in connection with the incident. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) then pardoned both of them in August.

Following the pardons, Missouri’s chief disciplinary council in September asked the state’s highest court to suspend the couple’s law licenses, saying that their crimes illustrated an “indifference to public safety” and involved “moral turpitude.”

In a statement, Mark McCloskey expressed his disagreement with the court’s decision to put the couple on probation.

“I disagree with the [Missouri] Supreme Court that what we did on our front porch constituted a misdemeanor offense involving moral turpitude,” he said, according to KCUR. “I don’t think we acted in moral turpitude at all.”

“I will respectfully cooperate with and fully perform my probation,” McCloskey added, per the outlet. 

Both Mark and Patricia McCloskey were admitted to the Missouri bar in 1986, according to KCUR. The pair reportedly works together at the McCloskey Law Center and concentrations on personal injury, medical malpractice and defective products cases.