A Kentucky man with a long criminal record was convicted on Friday to a record 14-year prison sentence for attacking police officers with pepper spray and a chair as they stormed the United States Capitol with his wife.
the condemnation of peter schwarz it is the longest to date among hundreds of lawsuits for the riots on Capitol Hill.
The judge who sentenced Schwartz also handed down the previous longest sentence — 10 years — to a retired New York Police Department officer who assaulted a police officer in front of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 24 years and 6 months for Schwartz, a welder.
District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Schwartz to 14 years and two months in prison, followed by three years of probation.
Mehta said Schwartz was a “soldier against democracy” who engaged in “the kind of turmoil and chaos that has never been seen in the history of the country.”
“You are not a political prisoner”
“You are not a political prisoner“The judge told him. ‘He’s not one to stand up against injustice or fight against an autocratic regime.’
Schwartz addressed the judge briefly before sentencing, saying, “I am sincerely sorry for the damage January 6 has caused to so many people and their lives.”
The judge said he did not believe Schwartz’s statement and noted his lack of remorse.
“You took care of it try to hurt more agents police that day,” Mehta said.
Schwartz was armed with a wooden club the kind used to check tire pressure when he and his then-wife, Shelly Stallingsjoined other rioters in overpowering a line of police officers on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace, where launched a folding chair to the agents.
“Throwing that chair, Schwartz contributed directly to the fall of the police line, which allowed the rioters to advance and seize the entire terrace,” said prosecutor Jocelyn Bond in a brief filed with the court.
Schwartz, 49, also took a canister of pepper spray from police and sprayed the agents as they left. Advancing towards a tunnel entrance, Schwartz joined two other rioters, Markus Maly and Jeffrey Brownto spray orange liquid at officers in front of crowds.
“Although the flow of liquid did not directly affect any officers, its effect was to increase the danger to officers in that tunnel,” wrote Bond.
Before setting off, Schwartz joined a group that pushed police officers into the tunnel.
Stallings pleaded guilty last year to riot-related charges and was sentenced last month to two years in prison.
Schwartz was tried alongside defendants Maly and Brown. In December, a jury convicted all three of assault and other felonies.
Mehta sentenced Brown on Friday to four years and six months in prison. Maly’s sentence is scheduled for June 9.
A misunderstanding”
Schwartz’s lawyers have asked for a prison sentence of four years and six months. They said their actions on January 6 were due tonot a “misunderstanding” about the 2020 presidential election. Then-President Donald Trump and his allies spread conspiracy theories unfounded that the Democrats stole the election from the Republican president.
“stay many scammers out there who still have the freedom to continue spreading the “big lie” that Trump won the election, with Donald Trump prominent among them. Mr. Schwartz is not one of those individuals; he knows he was wrong,” his defense attorneys wrote.
Prosecutors said Schwartz he boasted of his involvement in the riots, showed no remorse and claimed his prosecution was politically motivated. He defined the attack on the Capitol as the “beginning of a war” in a Facebook post the day after the riots.
“I was there, and whether people admit it or not, we’re at war now,” Schwartz wrote.
$71,000 for “Patriot Pete”
schwarz it raised over $71,000 with an online campaign entitled “Patriot Pete’s Political Prisoner in Washington” (Patriot Pete political prisoner in Washington). Prosecutors asked Mehta to order Schwartz to pay a fine equal to the amount raised by his campaign, arguing that he should not have profited from his involvement in the riot.
schwarz was on trial when he joined the riots on January 6. His criminal record includes 38 previous convictions since 1991, “many of them for assaulting or threatening officers or other authority figures,” wrote Bond.
Schwartz worked as a welder in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, before his February 2021 arrest, but according to his lawyers, he calls Owensboro, Kentucky, his home.
More than 100 police officers were injured during the riots. More than 1,000 people have been reported of federal crimes relating to January 6. Nearly 500 of them were convicted and more than half were sentenced to prison terms.
The 10-year prison sentence Mehta handed down to retired New York police officer Thomas Webster in September was the longest until Friday. Webster had used a metal flagpole to assault an agent and then confronted the same officer as the crowd advanced on the Capitoline Hill.
Translation: Elisa Carnelli
ap
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.