Missouri Senate candidate McCloskey’s law license put on probation over waving guns at protesters

The Missouri Supreme Court put the law licenses of Missouri Senate candidate Mark McCloskey and his wife Patricia on probation over the June 2020 confrontation with peaceful protesters that made them nationally infamous.

In an opinion issued Tuesday, the justices placed a one-year probation on the McCloskeys’ law licenses with the intent to suspend their licenses indefinitely should they violate the probation. The court sided with a state oversight council that sued the McCloskeys in a disciplinary action case. The two both worked as personal injury lawyers.

The court reasoned that Mark committed a crime of “moral turpitude” when he and Patricia pointed an AR-15 rifle and a Bryco handgun at peaceful protesters on the front lawn of their mansion on June 28, 2020, the height of the national Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020. The couple originally faced felony charges but accepted a plea deal 13 months later, with Mark pleading guilty to a fourth-degree assault misdemeanor and Patricia pleading guilty to a second-degree harassment misdemeanor.

The probation stands despite the couple becoming folk heroes for conservatives. Republican Gov. Mike Parson pardoned the couple in August 2021, and they spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention.

Mark announced a Senate run shortly before Parson’s pardon to replace retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt. A poll conducted last month by Remington Research Group showed him polling at 5%, or fourth place in the GOP primary race. He trails former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (28%), state Attorney General Eric Schmitt (23%) and U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (19%).

Follow Austin on Twitter @AuLinfante