13 July 20
The McCloskeys. (photo: Twitter)
Personal injury attorneys Mark McCloskey and Patricia McCloskey went viral in late June after being caught on video holding what appears to be an AR-15 style rifle and an extremely small pistol, respectively.
The rifle is now in the possession of city authorities.
“We complied with the search warrant. They took my AR,” Mark McCloskey told local right-wing radio host Todd Starnes on Friday. “I’m absolutely surprised by this.”
City of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner “sought weapons held by Mr. and Mrs. McCloskey during June 28, 2020 in defense of themselves and their home at time of the march,” according to the couple’s former attorney Albert Watkins.
The since-replaced attorney turned over the lesser gun to St. Louis detectives on Saturday after conferring with his former clients and their new attorney Joel Schwartz.
In comments made to various media outlets, the Watkins and Schwartz attorneys have attempted to develop something of a defense, seemingly in anticipation of criminal charges.
Watkins told the St. Louis American that Mark McCloskey had the rifle’s safety engaged at all times and claimed that his ex-client never had his finger on the trigger. Schwartz gave a similar story to the Associated Press, saying that Patricia McCloskey’s gun was never “operable” during the incident and is still not capable of firing.
The defense strategy appears to be an attempt to dispute that the McCloskey’s weapons were “readily capable of lethal use” at the time they were used to menace protesters by claiming that the guns could not have hurt anyone for the various reasons noted above.
But the law doesn’t appear to make such distinctions.
During that case, State v. Lutjen, a defendant argued that the Show Me State’s criminal code “intends to impose upon the prosecution the proof of a loaded firearm in order to sustain conviction of the offense under § 571.030.” An appeals court ruled that was not so.
The decision explains its rationale, in relevant part:
That is because:
“To hold that it is incumbent upon the state to prove affirmatively that a pistol…which is exhibited in a rude, angry, and threatening manner, is loaded, as a condition precedent to a conviction, would be practically to render the statute unenforceable. This is not only the view which this court has already taken [citations], but it is the view held in all other jurisdictions…”
The [Missouri Jury Instructions and Charges] definition of readily capable of lethal use to mean readily capable of causing death does not impede our conclusion that a loaded gun need not be proven. Common equivalents of the word readily are easily or speedily. A gun is easily transformed into a lethal weapon by the insertion of bullets. The statute does not contemplate that the gun be already lethal [loaded], but only that the weapon can readily become lethal [by loading].
In other words, since longstanding Missouri precedent has held that guns don’t even have to be loaded to count under the relevant statute, the public defense being telegraphed by the couple’s lawyers may not fare well.
And criminal charges hardly seem academic here.
Schwartz said that any such charges would be “absolutely, positively unmerited.” but appeared to be prepared for them.
“A search warrant being executed is clear indication of what the circuit attorney’s intentions are,” he told the Associated Press. “Beyond that, I can’t comment.”
Any filings in the controversy are currently sealed, Gardner said, for safety purposes because of “serious threats” received by her office due to the gun confiscations.
Watkins previously appeared on Fox News alongside Mark McCloskey. Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked if Watkins thought there was a risk that his clients would be charged. Watkins said that there was a chance because Gardner is a “political animal.”
“If the law prevails—long-standing Missouri law prevails—they’re fine,” Watkins said.
Mark McCloskey said the “mob” was threatening and committing acts of “terrorism” and “social intimidation.” He said they smashed down the gate to the private gated community and were trespassing.
The attorney has also said that he got a death threat that night.
“One fellow standing right in front of me pulled out two pistol magazines, clicked them together and said you’re next. That was the first death threat we got that night,” McCloskey said.
A physician wearing a mask. (photo: istock)
Had I been there, I would have said, as I now do when I hear people complaining about the discomforts of a mask, “Sorry, you’ll get no sympathy from me.”
As a surgeon, I spent much of my life behind a mask. Yes, it could be uncomfortable, especially during hay fever season, when I would excuse myself at the end of a three-hour operation to discreetly remove my snot-filled mask and wipe my face clean.
Yes, you learn by trial and error how to pinch the wire across the bridge of your nose so that your breath doesn’t shoot out the top of the mask and fog your glasses. You wear a mask because, in the operating room, contamination is a no-no. You wear a mask because if you don’t, the most vulnerable person in the room — the patient — might get an infection because of you.
Recently, I was the patient. I underwent a simple hernia repair under local anesthetic. Being the patient, I didn’t have to wear a mask. Being a surgeon, I felt more awkward being in an operating room without a mask than being there without my pants. I asked for one, and the understanding nurse anesthetist got me one.
While members of the operating team, the physicians and scrub nurses, do not have to maintain social distance, they do have to follow agreed-upon rules limiting their movements to avoid inadvertent contamination: hands in front of you at all times, above your waist and lower than your shoulders; no exposing your back to the front of another member of the team, which results in a front-to-front, roll back-to-back, front-to-front pas de deux if two team members have to change places in mid-operation.
Although both the operating team and the operating tables are covered with sterile drapes that extend toward the floor, only the waist-high tops are considered sterile. Should equipment be found dangling over the edge, it will be removed and replaced. You do it because, in the operating room, contamination is a no-no. You do it so that the patient will not inadvertently get infected.
If someone sees someone in the operating room unconsciously break protocol, they will call it out and it will get fixed so that there is no question about contamination. No one in the room wants to risk the patient getting infected.
If your child is in the operating room, you want the surgeons, anesthesia providers, nurses and technicians to wear their masks — masks that cover their noses — and follow the rules. Those in the operating room want to as well. They want to because the constraints are inconsequential to them compared to the risks of contamination to the patient.
They wear masks and follow the rules not for themselves, but for others. You are glad they do. When you see them after the operation, you say, “Thank you.”
Sgt. Dekel Levy, left, and Sgt. Kevin Wilkes on patrol on State Street in Camden, N.J., where the police force was disbanded nearly a decade ago and then rebuilt. (photo: Hannah Yoon/MYT)
Could This City Hold the Key to the Future of Policing in America?Joseph Goldstein and Kevin Armstrong, The New York TimesExcerpt: "As officials across the United States face demands to transform policing, many have turned to a small New Jersey city that did what some activists are calling for elsewhere: dismantled its police force and built a new one that stresses a less confrontational approach toward residents who are mostly Black and Latino."
The Camden Police Department’s efforts to reduce its use of force have made it one of the most compelling turnaround stories in U.S. law enforcement. The changes have led to a stark reduction in the number of excessive-force complaints against the police and have helped drive down the murder rate in what was once one of America’s most dangerous cities.
“If you’re looking to be a high-speed operator, we’re probably not the right department,” said the current chief, Joseph Wysocki, referring to the type of officer he does not want to attract. “If you’re looking to be a guardian figure in your neighborhood, this is for you.”
Supreme Court associate justices (L-R) Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Neil Gorsuch attend the swearing in ceremony for newly confirmed Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the East Room of the White House on October 8, 2018, in Washington, DC. (photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
A civilian is seen next to paramilitary soldiers patrolling a street following violence in New Delhi, India, February 28, 2020. (photo: Altaf Qadri/AP)
Patrons shop for groceries at a market in Mumbai, India. The United Nations aims to address global food security at its Food Systems Summit next year. (photo: Nicolas Vigier)
