“Kentucky Man Sentenced to 14 Years for Capitol Storming Role in Historic Case”

A man from the US state of Kentucky has been sentenced to fourteen years in prison for his role in the storming of the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. That is the highest sentence so far of the hundreds of cases related to the storming of the Capitol.

Welder Peter Schwartz, 49, attacked police officers with pepper spray and a chair as he stormed the Capitol with his wife. He already had a long criminal record and was released on parole on January 6. Justice had demanded a prison sentence of 24 years and six months.

Judge Amit Mehta called Schwartz “a soldier against democracy” who took part in “the greatest chaos in the history of the country”. Last year, Mehta sentenced a former police officer who assaulted an officer in the storming to 10 years in prison, the maximum sentence for storming the Capitol.

Schwartz said he regretted his actions in court, but Mehta said he didn’t believe him because he hadn’t shown remorse before. “You are not a political prisoner,” Mehta told Schwartz. “You are not someone who opposes injustice or fights against an autocratic regime.”

During the storming of the Capitol, four stormers and an officer were killed and more than 100 police officers were injured. More than a thousand people have been charged for their role in the storming, about 500 of them have now been convicted.

In the case against the leader of the far-right militia Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, the OM demanded 25 years in prison. Last year, a jury found Rhodes guilty of “inciting conspiracy” and other charges related to the storming of the Capitol by supporters of former President Trump. The jury found it proven that he called on members of the Oath Keepers to stop at all costs the transfer of power from Trump to Joe Biden.