By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A Harvard law school graduate who admitted he was very drunk when he set fire to an East Side chapel containing the remains of 9/11 victims pleaded guilty for a jail-free sentence on Wednesday.
Brian Schroeder, 27, entered a plea to a deal that was worked out with a Manhattan judge in early November.
Schroeder said he was so drunk he did not remember breaking into the chapel and setting mementos like photos and notes left from 9/11 family members of 9/11 victims ablaze inside the chapel at East 30th Street and FDR Drive on Oct. 31, 2009.
He did $67,000 worth of damage and was ordered to pay restitution, although the amount has not yet been determined.
"I cannot explain why I acted the way I did, but I take responsibility for my actions," Schroeder said in court. "I am sorry."
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Bonnie Wittner said Schroeder did not deserve to go to jail for his drunken mistake.
He pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, burglary, arson and cemetery desecration.
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Schroeder landed a job at a prestigious Manhattan law firm. But the offer was revoked after he was charged.
He has been working at a non-profit and receiving treatment for alcohol abuse, his lawyer recently said.
Prosecutors voiced their objection to the jail-free plea deal, which was reached between the judge and defense lawyers.
