The St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters walking past their house claim they feared for their lives because of the “angry mob.”
Mark McCloskey, 63, and his wife, Patricia, 61 — both personal-injury lawyers — were caught on video brandishing weapons and yelling at protesters who were on their way to demonstrate in front of the mayor’s house on Sunday evening.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner said Monday she is investigating after husband and wife lawyers brandished a handgun and a rifle at protesters passing their home on a private street.
The St. Louis couple who went viral after an array of photos and videos showed them aiming firearms at protestors marching without permission through their private, gated community and toward the mayor’s mansion made national headlines over the weekend. The encounter sparked controversy and debate surrounding Missouri’s “castle doctrine,” particularly among conservative commentators who defended the couple’s actions as being a lawful exercise of their right to defend their home.
As part of the 2019–2020 Fellows’ Presentation Series at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Corey Rayburn Yung RI ’20 argues that the failure to have healthy dialogues about sex, consent, and sexual violence has created and continues to create the cultural and legal dysfunction we see today.
Yung is the William R. Scott Research Professor at the University of Kansas School of Law. He is the 2019–2020 Lisa Goldberg Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
Author’s Note: If you or anyone you know has been affected by acts of sexual misconduct, please contact the University Title IX coordinator at 352-273-1094 or inform@titleix.ufl.edu or the Gainesville Police Department. Additional resources are included below.
I don’t mean to sound like an incarceration-loving neo-liberal, but part of my response to #MeToo has been to favor more jail. I want more things called crimes, and the penalties for those crimes to be more harsh. Yes, yes I know damn well that whenever you make more crimes and more penalties, you make something that will disproportionately affect people of color and poor people. For every Brock Turner that you finally put the hammer to, you risk creating a bunch of black and brown “criminals” who are guilty of looking at the wrong white girl.
WICHITA, Kan. — A new proposal would redefine sexual assault and change the way colleges and universities investigate the cases.
The Department of Education says the changes to Title IX would still take reports of sexual assault seriously, but that they also assure the accused that they're not immediately deemed guilty either.
This story was produced in collaboration with Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and Newsy.
Kaethe Morris Hoffer worried she might be shouting. For many women, especially those who work with survivors of sexual assault, it’s getting harder by the day not to scream.
LaToya Austin believes John W. Towner Jr. is too dangerous for a $100,000 bond — an amount low enough, she said, she worries the man accused of shooting her brother and father could be released.
Judges determine bond with recommendations from prosecutors and defense attorneys. A defendant’s flight risk, threat to witnesses and potential danger to the community are considered, among other things, said Corey Rayburn Yung, a University of Kansas professor who specializes in criminal law and procedure.
