(PartiallyPolitics.com) – Missouri Judge Joseph P. Whyte expunged the misdemeanor convictions of a St. Louis couple that was charged for having waved their firearms at protestors outside their house in 2020.
In January attorney Patricia and Mark McCloskey filed to have the convictions removed from their record. In response to the request Whyte wrote in an order that expungement was for those people that have been rehabilitated and want a second chance.
After the new ruling, Mark McCloskey called for the city to hand back to them the two firearms that had been confiscated as part of the 2021 guilty plea. The two guns were visible in the viral photo of the couple outside their home during the June 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. He added that should the city not return his Bryco .380-caliber pistol and Colt AR-15 rifle he would be suing the city.
The couple has claimed that during the protests they had felt threatened by the protesters who were passing outside of their home. The photo of the couple with their guns became a symbol of the culture war in America and resulted in both criticism and praise from GOP lawmakers and former President Donald Trump.
Following the incident, the couple ended up pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges. However, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) had pardoned the payment in July 2021. Despite this in December 2022 a judge ruled that the guns would not be returned.
The couple had also previously filed an appeal to the Supreme Court but the case had been turned away.
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