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Uniontown man denied bond while awaiting trial in U.S. Capitol attack

By Mike Jones newsroom@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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Calling it “one of the most serious cases” he’s seen related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a federal judge denied the bond request by a man from Uniontown accused of pepper spraying police officers and trying to ram through their line protecting the building.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Thursday that Peter Schwartz should remain jailed while awaiting trial on numerous felony charges accusing him of assaulting multiple police officers while they were defending the Capitol from a riotous mob attempting to stop Congress from certifying the electoral victory for President Joe Biden.

“The bottom line is there’s video evidence of his actions that day and his own words corroborate those actions. Mr. Schwartz sets himself apart from a number of people who may have entered the Capitol but didn’t engage with police officers or possess a weapon,” Mehta said. “The nature and circumstances of the defendant’s actions are quite serious.”

Mehta said Swartz “thinks himself a combatant” in social media posts and text messages to acquaintances in the days after the insurrection where he thought the mob was at war. He added that Schwartz was “charged with a crime of violence” and has a long criminal record before denying his bond request.

Schwartz, who is being held at a jail in Washington, D.C., appeared for the Thursday afternoon hearing through video conferencing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Schwartz was living and working in Uniontown when investigators said he and his wife, Shelley, traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in a march in support of former president Donald Trump’s false claim that the election had been stolen.

Investigators said the couple then walked to the Capitol, where a man matching Schwartz’s description allegedly used pepper spray on at least two Metro DC police officers who were outside the Capitol. Federal court documents also showed Schwartz sent text messages to acquaintances and posted on his social media accounts bragging about being involved in the riot. New court filings also indicated he participated in a mob of people attempting to overrun police officers who were in a tunnel blocking the rioters from entering the Capitol.

Schwartz, 47, was arrested Feb. 4 at his Cleveland Avenue apartment in Uniontown, although his wife has not been charged in connection with the riot at the Capitol.

His attorney, Michael Lawlor, said Schwartz’s wife is suffering from health problems and their marriage has “hit several bumps in the road” since he’s been incarcerated. Lawlor argued Schwartz should be released with certain bond conditions and be allowed to return to his native Kentucky, where he still has family. Lawlor added that people at the march where Trump and others spoke just before the riot began were “instigated” into attacking the Capitol, although Lawlor did not identify who he thought was the instigator.

“He certainly made poor decisions that day, but I don’t think those decisions were premeditated,” Lawlor said.

Prosecutors noted in their filings that Schwartz is a convicted felon and only released from a prison in Kentucky due to COVID-19 safety protocols, and that he should remain jailed due to his lengthy criminal history. Schwartz has four active warrants against him dating back two decades, which includes a bench warrant that would extradite him back to Kentucky if he’s released.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Bond argued his criminal history and the serious charges related to the insurrection make him a danger to the community and a potential flight risk. Bond said he was “active and engaged” in the melee by using pepper spray on officers outside the building and joining the mob attempting to overrun police standing guard inside a tunnel entering the Capitol.

“He was actively attacking police officers,” she said. “He wasn’t just a bystander who cheered things on.”

Bond said Schwartz was in the middle of “some of the heaviest violence” during the attack, alluding to the tunnel where at least one police officer suffered crushing injuries from the mob and others were struck by chemical irritants.

“We charged the cops again after they’d retreated into the Capitol building, and we ALL got maced repeatedly and tear gassed,” Schwartz allegedly texted to an acquaintance, according to court documents. “But we’d charge and wear the cops down until the gas got us, and then the next crew would go in while we recovered.”

Bond also noted that Schwartz declared he was at “at war” against his political foes and Congress.

“What happened yesterday was the opening of a war,” Schwartz allegedly wrote on his Facebook page a day after the insurrection. “I was there and whether people will acknowledge it or not we are now at war.”

A grand jury returned a 14-count indictment against Schwartz, which includes felony charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon; civil disorder; and obstruction of an official proceeding, along with seven misdemeanor charges. A status hearing will be held Tuesday to determine whether Schwartz wants to proceed to trial.

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