Mark and Patricia McCloskey, both personal injury attorneys in their 60s, appeared in court Thursday where they admitted to a judge that their actions had put peaceful protesters at risk of serious injury.
But the couple adopted a different tone when leaving court. Mark told reporters 'I'd do it again' and warned he poses an 'imminent threat of physical injury' to 'the mob.'
The McCloskeys were caught on camera last June emerging from their home in an upscale neighborhood in Missouri brandishing firearms at protesters marching past.
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Mark, who quickly became the GOP's poster boy and spoke at August's Republican National Convention in support of Donald Trump, is now running for US Senate.
Neither of them will face jail time after they agreed to the lesser charges in a plea deal.
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Patricia pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was fined $2,000 in Thursday's hearing in downtown St. Louis.
Mark pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750.
They both also agreed to have their weapons destroyed.
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Because the charges are misdemeanors, the McCloskeys do not face the possibility of losing their law licenses and can continue to buy and own other firearms.
Mark was asked in court if he acknowledged that his actions put people at risk of personal injury to which he calmly replied: 'I sure did your honor.'
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On the courthouse steps, Mark was then unapologetic, saying: 'I'd do it again.
'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.'
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The McCloskeys' defense lawyer, Joel Schwartz, said after the hearing the couple had hoped to raise money by donating Mark's rifle to charity, but acknowledged that it was an unusual request.
Special prosecutor Richard Callahan called the outcome 'an appropriate and fair disposition for the parties involved as well as the public good.'
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'[The protesters] were a racially mixed and peaceful group, including women and children, who simply made a wrong turn on their way to protest in front of the mayor's house,' he said.
'There was no evidence that any of them had a weapon and no one I interviewed realized they had ventured onto a private enclave.'
Last July, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner charged the couple with felony unlawful use of a weapon for displaying guns during the protest.
The McCloskeys were then indicted by a grand jury in October on felony charges of unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering.
The charges led to a backlash from several Republican leaders and then-President Trump.
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