An attorney for the St. Louis couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey has revealed that part of his defense strategy will be to stop Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner from having any involvement in a criminal case that was revealed on Tuesday.
Al Watkins was speaking after it emerged that a grand jury issued an indictment against the couple, which includes a charge of tampering with evidence along with weapons offenses.
The McCloskeys made national headlines after they were captured brandishing weapons as Black Lives Matter protesters passed their home on private Portland Place on the way to a protest outside the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson.
The couple's attorney revealed that a grand jury handed down the indictment, but that it remains sealed until next Wednesday.
A spokesman for the circuit attorney's office did not respond to requests for comment from media outlets.
In an interview published by Courthouse News, Watkins said part of his plan was to file motions to disqualify Gardner.
“Motions will be filed, including motions to disqualify the circuit attorney by virtue of statements made by certain individuals associated with that office, by virtue of the actions taken to tamper, dismantle and reassemble the weapon to make it a dischargeable weapon, as well as statements that have been made by members of the circuit attorney’s office about counsel for the defense,” Watkins said.
Last month, Watkins penned a sharp response to an assistant circuit attorney who described him as a "slimeball" in a leaked email.
Watkins also said that the tampering charge “makes no sense given the fact that the only tampering that has gone on here has been at the hands of the prosecuting or the circuit attorney by reassembling the gun to make it dischargeable."
The indictment revealed on Tuesday came on the same day as a hearing in the McCloskey case, which was continued.
Watkins said: "The state of Missouri did not want to proceed with a preliminary hearing, where a witness would actually have to take the stand, where there would be a judge and there would be a defense counsel and all the trappings of justice, and instead they decided to go behind closed doors with no judge and no witnesses and simply, you know, present to the grand jury."
Following the court hearing, McCloskey told reporters: "Every single human being that was in front of my house was a criminal trespasser.
"They broke down our gate. They trespassed on our property. Not a single one of those people is now charged with anything. We’re charged with felonies that could cost us four years of our lives and our law licenses.”
The couple are charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon and tampering with evidence. Nine people involved in the march were charged with misdemeanor trespassing, though not by the circuit attorney. Those charges were later dropped.