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Judge Offers Jail-Free Deal to Man Who Set Fire to 9/11 Chapel

By DNAinfo Staff on November 3, 2010 7:08pm  | Updated on November 4, 2010 6:53am

Brian Schroeder was charged with setting fire to 9/11 victims memorial on Oct. 31, 2009.
Brian Schroeder was charged with setting fire to 9/11 victims memorial on Oct. 31, 2009.
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By Shayna Jacobs

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A Harvard law graduate who admitted to drunkenly setting fire to a chapel containing the remains of 9/11 victims was offered a jail-free deal by a Manhattan judge on Wednesday.

Brian Schroeder,  27, would get probation and community service in exchange for a future guilty plea, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Renee Uviller said Wednesday.

"I don't see any point in ruining another life," the judge said in court to Schroeder, who took a job at a non-profit organization after a job offer from Sidley Austin, a major New York law firm, was rescinded following the incident. 

Prosecutors have opposed a jail-free sentence for Schroeder, who turned himself in after sobering up and admitted to what he did.

"I thought I was dreaming," he told investigators afterward, adding "it felt like an adventure."

Schroeder allegedly set mementos like photos and notes left from family members of 9/11 victims ablaze inside the East 30th Street and FDR Drive chapel in the early on Oct. 31, 2009.

He was charged with four low-grade felonies including arson and burglary.

The chapel has been a temporary resting place for family members of 9/11 victims while a permanent spot is established at Ground Zero.

He is scheduled to reappear in court on Dec. 22.