Peter Schwartz, who joined the brutalization of police officers during the Capitol riot in early 2021 incited by Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 presidential election, was sentenced this week to a little over 14 years in prison. The exact term of incarceration, which was decided upon by federal Judge Amit Mehta, reached 170 months.
Although federal prosecutors have repeatedly sought longer sentences in Capitol riot cases, this prison term represents the longest sentence a judge has actually imposed on a participant in that attack. Schwartz has a lengthy personal history of involvement with the criminal justice system, which prosecutors highlighted in making their earlier arguments for Mehta to impose a sentence of over 24 years. Schwartz’s past cases include allegations of physical violence and antagonism towards police. Also highlighted in prosecutors’ arguments ahead of his sentencing was his apparent lack of serious remorse. Schwartz has given a series of interviews, including after his conviction at trial, in which he pushed back on the case against him and sought to explain away his actions. Among other claims, Schwartz insisted in one such interview he’d simply acted in defense of his then-wife when participating in physical violence during the Capitol assault.
Schwartz offered words of regret around his sentencing, but Mehta explicitly dismissed the defendant’s ploy. “I appreciate you saying what you did today, but I don’t believe it,” the judge said, according to The New York Times.
At the actual Capitol, Schwartz joined violence against police in the Lower West Terrace tunnel. He also helped distribute chemical irritants taken from law enforcement’s resources that day with the aim of using these weapons against cops, besides hurling a chair at police officers, helping with the crowd’s overall aim of driving them back. New arrests in Capitol riot cases have also continued, including in a case implicating a former supervisor at the FBI (who left some time before the riot actually happened).
