Patricia and Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty Thursday to harassment and assault charges stemming from their infamously hysterical meltdown when protestors neared their famously tasteless St. Louis mansion. But the charges were reduced to minor misdemeanors, allowing them to continue to own firearms and practice law.
The McCloskeys pointed guns at marchers who strayed close to their property during last year's George Floyd protests, earning instant fame and, at first, more serious charges: they were indicted by a grand jury in October with unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering, both felonies.
But after becoming conservative media stars and launching political careers on the back of the incident, they'll now lose only $2700 in fines and the two guns they pointed at protestors. Mark McCloskey emerged from the courthouse boasting that he'd do it again. Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has already said he would pardon the McCloskeys irrespective of what they are convicted of.
The McCloskeys, both of them lawyers in their 60s, wore blue blazers and spoke calmly in answering questions from Judge David Mason during Thursday's hearing. Mason asked Mark McCloskey if he acknowledged that his actions put people at risk of personal injury. He replied, "I sure did your honor."
"I'd do it again," he said from the courthouse steps in downtown St. Louis. "Any time the mob approaches me, I'll do what I can to put them in imminent threat of physical injury because that's what kept them from destroying my house and my family."
