Kirkwood Lawyer to Face Civil Trial Over Pipe Bombs at Ex-Partners' Home

A jury trial has been set for March 4, 2013 in a civil suit that alleges a Kirkwood attorney bombed his ex-partners' firm. 

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. In the lawsuit, the defendants asked that a jury determine damages.

The lawyers are suing their former partner for allegedly bombing their South St. Louis home in 2010.

The lawsuit alleges that Mark Bates, of Kirkwood, conspired with at least one other person to plant pipe bombs at South St. Louis home of Thomas and Beth on Oct. 1, 2010.

Bates was a partner in the Clayton-based firm formerly known as Boggs, Boggs and Bates. Animosity between Bates and the other partners started when Bates was caught forging documents and stealing from the firm, according to the lawsuit.

The civil suit was filed in the city of St. Louis Circuit Court by the Boggs’ attorneys, Rebecca Randles and Dan Curry of the Kansas City-based Randles, Mata and Brown firm.

The lawsuit alleges that Bates or a co-conspirator planted pipe bombs at the Boggs’ home near the couple’s garage and a propane tank and doused the back of the house with lacquer thinner.

The first explosion awoke Thomas and Beth Boggs and shattered windows, cutting Beth’s hands.

The lawsuit reads: “As they scrambled to the house’s main floor, another explosion rocked the home.”

Beth ran outside and found the back of their home in flames, so she grabbed a garden house to try to douse the fire.

“The concrete porch she stood on was hot enough that it burned the bottoms of her feet,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges that Bates and co-conspirators intended either to kill or severely wound Thomas and Beth Boggs.

“If they did not mean to kill them, they meant to terrify them,” the lawsuit reads.

The fire caused $10,000 in damages to the home, damaged a car and personal items.

The lawsuit also said that Bates shopping in the Home Depot store in Ferguson for ingredients for the pipe bomb, including pipe, caps and lacquer thinner. The surveillance video was released to the media.

Criminal charges have not been filed against Bates, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating the matter.

Another partner in the firm, Ernest Brasier, was killed in 2008 in the firm’s Clayton office when he was shot in the head.

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