PITTSBURGH — A federal judge has rejected a request by a Uniontown welder accused of pepper-spraying police officers during the Capitol insurrection to have his case held elsewhere and separately from two co-defendants.
The judge also rejected Peter Schwartz’s attempt to get an obstruction count against him tossed.
Schwartz, a felon from Kentucky living in Uniontown, is among some two dozen people from Western Pennsylvania accused of storming the Capitol.
He and his wife, Shelly Stallings, were charged together. She has pleaded guilty, but he's set to go to trial with two other men, Jeff Brown of California and Markus Maly of Virginia.
Schwartz and his lawyer had tried to get the venue changed, arguing that he couldn't get a fair trial in Washington, D.C., because of all the publicity. Brown raised the same claim.
On Monday, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that neither raises a new claim about prejudice or jury bias that he hasn't already rejected in other Capitol riot cases.
Schwartz also wanted to use a jury questionnaire to gauge potential jury bias, but the judge denied that too.
While the insurrection has generated a lot of media attention, Mehta said, there's little reason to think that jurors will be familiar with Schwartz's case.
The judge said he'll allow the parties to suggest questions during the voir dire process, as is the case in other trials.
Brown had additionally asked that the trial be delayed until after the midterm elections. The judge said no, ruling that Brown offered only speculation that the election would impact the jury pool.
Schwartz is accused of many crimes. One of them is obstruction of an official proceeding. He, like many other accused rioters, tried to get that count tossed on the grounds that the certification of Joe Biden's win over Donald Trump was not an "official proceeding." The judge, like every other judge in D.C., said it was and ruled that the count will stand.
Schwartz also wanted to be tried separately from Brown and Maly, but the judge said they all acted together in attacking police that day and should be tried together.
Video shows them acting in concert in the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol, with Schwartz handing a can of Mace to Maly, who then hands it to Brown, who tries to pepper-spray police with it. He can't get the canister to work, so he hands it back to Schwartz, who adjusts it and hands it back to Brown, who then sprays police.
The FBI said Schwartz also hurled a chair at police and later bragged online about his actions, saying he should be "in federal prison" for what he'd done on Jan. 6. If he's convicted, it’s almost certain that is where he will end up.
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