KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas woman on Monday was sentenced to two years of probation after offering a tearful apology for her role in the insurrection at the Capitol.
Esther Schwemmer, 56, of Leavenworth, also must perform community service and pay $500 in restitution for damage to the Capitol building. The sentence was handed down via video conference in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Kansas City Star reported.
“I’m deeply ashamed of my actions on that day,” Schwemmer told U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich. “Nothing about it was Christ-like…I hope with time I can forgive myself.”
Friedrich acknowledged Schwemmer’s “genuine remorse” but said she was “clearly trespassing, she had no right to be there, and her actions indirectly subjected law enforcement officers whose job it is to protect the Capitol and members of Congress and others who were inside the Capitol to great risk.”
Schwemmer and her friend Jennifer Ruth Parks, 61, attended then-President Donald Trump’s rally before following the crowd to the Capitol, court documents said. Parks, of Leavenworth, received a similar sentence in December.
Eight Kansas residents have been charged in connection with the Capitol riot.
