Special prosecutor drops tampering charge in McCloskey case

The special prosecutor handling a pair of high-profile weapons cases against a pair of St. Louis attorneys has announced that he has dropped a tampering charge in one of the cases.  

On May 25, Richard Callahan, a senior Cole County Circuit judge and former U.S. Attorney appointed to oversee the prosecution of charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey, announced that he’d filed a substitute information in Patricia McCloskey’s case and would be considering a similar filing in her husband’s case. 

The McCloskeys were both initially charged with unlawful use of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution, stemming from a well-publicized June 28 incident in which the McCloskeys, while armed, confronted protesters outside their home. The McCloskeys claim they acted in self-defense.

Callahan replaced St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, whose office was disqualified from the cases in late 2020 based on emails her re-election campaign had sent referencing the cases. 

The substitute information adds a charge of second-degree harassment as an alternative to the existing exhibiting charge and drops the tampering charge, according to a statement from Callahan. 

“When I accepted this appointment, I promised that I would review the evidence and follow the facts,” he said in the statement, crediting the work of Gardner’s office. He added: “While there is still work to do and more witnesses to interview in terms of trial preparation, this substitute information represents my best judgement as to the options a jury or a judge should be given in light of the totality of the facts and circumstances that can be proven.”

As of press time, Callahan had not filed a similar charging document in Mark McCloskey’s case. 

The cases are State v. Patricia McCloskey, 2022-CR01300-01, and State v. Mark McCloskey, 2022-CR01301-01.