St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and her whole staff have been removed from the case against Mark McCloskey, who with his wife Patricia was charged with brandishing weapons against Black Lives Matter protesters earlier this year, after the prosecutor referred to the case in her fundraising emails.
The decision doesn't apply to McCloskey's wife but means that a special prosecutor will have to take over the Mark McCloskey case, reports NPR.
Circuit Judge Thomas Clark II said Gardner's emails "raise the appearance of impropriety and jeopardize the defendant's right to a fair trial," according to The Associated Press.
Patricia McCloskey is scheduled to appear before a different judge on Jan. 15.
Defense attorneys for the couple initially filed a motion in July to disqualify Gardner because of the campaign messages, reports NBC affiliate KSDK. According to court documents, Gardner's emails were sent out as much as three days before she filed criminal charges against the McCloskeys and were used to call for donations, according to Attorney Joel Schwartz.
The couple says they believed the protesters would have burned down their home if they hadn't stood their ground. They were indicted in October on charges of tampering with evidence and unlawful use of a weapon and both have pleaded not guilty.
Gardner, St. Louis's first Black circuit attorney, claims the emails used the McCloskey case as a self-defense move against conservative politicians and media. One email said she was under "national scrutiny from our divisive President, the Republican establishment of Missouri, and the right-wing media, including Fox News."
In his ruling, Clark said Gardner has "every right to rebut criticism, but it appears unnecessary to stigmatize defendant – or even mention him – in campaign solicitations, especially when she purports to be responding to others."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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