St. Louis lawyer couple charged with waving guns at BLM protesters while defending their property are accused of 'altering pistol after claiming it was inoperable because it had been used as a prop in another trial'

A St. Louis couple who notoriously waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters as they marched past their house and onto private property in June have been charged with altering one of the firearms before handing it over as evidence. 

Lawyers Mark, 63, and Patricia McCloskey, 61, were indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday on felony weapon and evidence tampering charges. The latter charges were only added this week. 

The St Louis Post Dispatch reports that prosecutors allege the gun Patricia McCloskey was holding that day had been tampered with after the couple's lawyer  claimed it was inoperable as it had been used as a prop in an earlier lawsuit against a gun manufacturer. 

Mark McCloskey addresses the press alongside his wife Patricia on Tuesday just hours before they were indicted by a grand jury of felony weapon and evidence tampering charges

Mark and Patricia McCloskey became notorious in June for brandishing guns at protesters outside their St. Louis mansion. They will appear in court again on October 14

Patricia McCloskey and her husband Mark McCloskey drew their firearms on protestors in St. Louis on June 23. The couple has claimed that the gun Patricia pointed here was inoperable but prosecutors have accused them of tampering with it before handing it in to evidence

Before any charges were filed, the couple handed the gun over the their then attorney Albert Watkins. 

When he turned the gun over to police in July, he said he would no longer serve as their attorney because he could be called as a witness at their trial.

Watkins claimed that Patricia knew the gun was inoperable when she wielded it at the protesters walking past her mansion. 

He claimed she used the gun for an 'intimidation factor which may be utilized within the context of any self-defense'. 

The McCloskeys said they intentionally misplaced the firing pin on the gun so it couldn't discharge, and that it was in that condition when Patricia waved it at protesters - and when she subsequently later turned it over to investigators.

Documents obtained by 5 On Your Side in July showed Gardner's Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Hinckley ordered crime lab workers to reassemble the gun so it could be fired.

Missouri law states that a gun must be 'readily capable of lethal use' in order for someone to be charged with unlawful use of a weapon. 

Hinkley later wrote in a criminal complaint against Patricia McCloskey that the weapon was readily capable of lethal use.

The McCloskey's new attorney Joel Schwartz said at the time that it was 'disheartening to learn that a law enforcement agency altered evidence in order to prosecute an innocent member of the community'. 

The McCloskeys were indicted by a grand jury Tuesday just hours after they attended a short hearing inside the Carnahan Courthouse in downtown St. Louis. 

Grand jurors found probable cause on both counts. 

The indictment listing the two Class E felony charges released Tuesday

During the earlier hearing, a judge delayed the case until October 14 because the grand jury had not yet rendered a decision on whether to indict them and needed more time to deliberate.

The decision was eventually made on Tuesday afternoon, according to Schwartz. He had speculated earlier in the day that a determination would be reached by next week. 

'I am not surprised that the grand jury indicted them but I'll certainly be interested in what was presented to the grand jury,' Schwartz told the Post-Dispatch, adding he plans to request a transcript or recording of the hearing if such records were made. 

Kimberly Gardner, the city's chief prosecutor, filed felony unlawful use of a weapon charges against the couple in July before bringing the case to a grand jury. 

'It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner at those participating in nonviolent protest, and while we are fortunate this situation did not escalate into deadly force, this type of conduct is unacceptable in St. Louis,' Gardner said in a statement when she filed charges.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Wednesday he 'most certainly would' pardon the couple if they are convicted. 

Mark McCloskey said he and his wife are victims of ‘violent’ trespassers who he claims were shouting death threats and threats of rape against his wife. Pictured in court Tuesday

Mark McCloskey also criticized a recent decision made by the City Counselor’s Office to not prosecute the nine protesters who trespassed into Portland Place en route to Mayor Lynda Krewson’s home, who lives a few houses away from them

'We'll let it play out and see how this all comes out in the courts, but I stand by what I said,' he said.

The McCloskeys, who are both personal-injury lawyers, received national media attention when they emerged from their $1.15 million mansion with guns on June 28, after a procession of protesters veered onto Portland Place, a private street. 

The couple said the demonstrators knocked down an iron gate near their home and ignored a 'No Trespassing' sign, leaving them feeling threatened.

Mark came out wielding an AR-15 rifle and Patricia displayed a semiautomatic handgun, according to court records.

No shots were fired, but they were both later initially charged by Gardner with one count each of unlawful use of a weapon, a class E felony. The extra tampering charge is also a Class E felony.  

In announcing the originally charges in July, Gardner said the guns created the risk of bloodshed. A police probable cause statement said protesters feared 'being injured due to Patricia McCloskey's finger being on the trigger, coupled with her excited demeanor'.     

While walking outside the courtroom Tuesday morning, the McCloskeys and Schwartz stopped to speak with reporters gathered outside.

Mark McCloskey said he and his wife are victims of 'violent' trespassers who he claims were shouting death threats and threats of rape against his wife.

The case drew the attention of leading Republicans, including President Trump, who has expressed his support for the McCloskeys, as well as Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons

The McCloskeys, who are both lawyers, became the target of national media attention in the summer after they emerged from their $1.15 million mansion, in Portland Place, with guns on the night of June 28 when a procession of protesters veered onto their private street

Patricia McCloskey described how protesters 'broke an iron fence down' onto the property

He blamed the 'left, Democrat government' of the city for the charges and said he and his wife were 'doing no more than exercising our Second Amendment rights.'

Mark also criticized a recent decision made by the City Counselor's Office to not prosecute a group of protesters who trespassed into Portland Place en route to Mayor Lyda Krewson's home, who lives a few houses away from them.

'The government chooses to persecute us for doing no more than exercising our right to defend ourselves, our home, our property and our family and now we're getting here time after time after time and for what?' he said. 

'We didn't fire a shot. People were violently protesting in front of our house and screaming death threats and threats of rape and threats of arson. Nobody gets charged but we get charged.

'We're charged with felonies that could cost us four years of our lives and our law license,' he continued.

Sources told 5 On Your Side the grand jury met at least once to discuss the McCloskeys' case.

Grand jurors reportedly heard testimony from several witnesses, including from the protesters whose trespassing charges were dismissed by attorneys for the city.

'If there is a true bill returned for either Mr. or Mrs. McCloskey we will do everything we can to fight those charges,' Schwartz assured reporters outside the court, before the indictment was announced. 

Protesters gathered outside the home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey in St. Louis

The $1.15 million home of the McCluskey's is seen above

The McCloskeys first appeared in court on August 31, where the judge continued their case until October 6.

The McCloskeys did not speak to reporters after that court hearing. Schwartz reiterated their claims that no laws were broken.

'We are simply anxious to remove all the noise from this case, move the case forward, and have the facts heard by a jury and let the jury decide whether or not the McCloskeys committed any felony offenses because we are convinced with absolute certainty that there was no felony committed here,' Schwartz said at the time.

The case drew the attention of leading Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who has expressed his support for the McCloskeys, as well as Governor Parsons and other leading Republicans.

Trump considered the charges an 'egregious abuse of power,' his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said. 

In August, the couple made an appearance during the opening night of the Republican National Convention in which they made the case that they had a 'God-given right' to defend themselves and their property. 

The couple touted Trump's defense of the Second Amendment and also warned Americans of the 'mob'. 

Around 300 protesters gathered outfront of their home on June 28. 

The couple, who met when they were at Southern Methodist University law school, moved into the palazzo at One Portland Place having filed a lawsuit in 1988 to obtain the property.

They sued a man who sold them a Maserati they claimed was supposed to come with a box of hard-to-find parts, the paper reported.

Mark McCloskey speaks outside the Republican campaign office in downtown Scranton

Patricia and Mark McCloskey sign autographs outside the Republican campaign office in downtown Scranton. They have become famous among Republicans over the case

In November 1996, Mark McCloskey filed two lawsuits, one against a dog breeder whom he said sold him a German Shepherd without papers and the other against the Central West End Association for using a photo of their house in a brochure for a house tour after the McCloskeys had told them not to.

For years the couple have been at war over the rights to a small patch of land bordering their property.

The McCloskeys, according to the paper, have also constantly sought to force their neighborhood trustees to maintain the exclusivity of Portland Place.

They accused the trustees of selectively enforcing the written rules for living in the neighborhood, known as the trust agreement, and in particular failing to enforce a rule about unmarried couples living together.

Their insistence was seen as an attempt to force gay couples from the community.

The trustees voted to impeach Patricia as a trustee in 1992 when she fought an effort to change the trust indenture, accusing her of being anti-gay.

In 2002, the Portland Place Association sued to foreclose on the McCloskeys' house because they were refusing to pay dues.

On a second property, in Franklin County, the couple had disputes with their neighbors over a gravel path, and sued for squatters rights to a section of land.

The McCloskeys also evicted two tenants from a modular home on their property in a period of just over two years.

He sued his employers for wrongful dismissal, and then turned on his own family, in particular after his father largely wrote him out of the will in 2008, sparking a family feud that would last eight years.

Mark filed a defamation case against his father and sister in 2011, dismissed it in 2012, and refiled it in 2013. By the time of the final filing, Bruce McCloskey was living in a memory care unit in Ballwin; he died in 2014.

In March 2013 McCloskey sued his father and his father's trust over a gift of five acres, promised in 1976, which never materialized.

A judge ruled against him in 2016.

The couple's next court appearance is scheduled for October 14.