By Steve Neavling
Federal prosecutors are seeking the longest prison sentence yet in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The Justice Department is asking a judge to sentence Peter Schwartz, of Pennsylvania, to more than 24 years in prison for repeatedly assaulting police officers, CBS News reports.
Schwartz, who has a lengthy criminal record, is set to be sentenced on May 5.
Schwartz was found guilty at a trial in December on several charges, including four counts of felony assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers using a dangerous weapon.
Prosecutors says Schwartz “stole chemical munitions, including pepper spray… left behind by the fleeing officers and used that pepper spray as a weapon to attack those same officers as they desperately tried to escape.”
He also assaulted several groups of police officers and “did not back down. He then joined the larger mob inside of the tunnel in attempting to push through the police line and into the Capitol Building,” prosecutors allege.
Schwartz’s attorney depicts him as a victim of misinformation and political grift and is asking for no more than 54 months in prison.
Schwartz’s wife, Shelly Stallings, was convicted for her role in the riot in August and was sentenced to two years in prison earlier this year.
Prosecutors said Schwartz has raised more than $71,500 in online donations as part of a campaign dubbed, “Patriot Pete Political Prisoner in DC.”
If the judge sends Schwartz to prison for more than 24 years, it will be the longest prison sentence handed down so far in the roughly 450 insurrection-related cases that have reached sentencing.
More than 1,000 people have been charged so far for their role in the Capitol riot.
