Harvard Grad 'Profoundly' Drunk Before 9/11 Chapel Fire, Lawyer Says Updated March 18, 2010 7:48am

Brian Schroeder was charged with setting fire to a 9/11 victims memorial on Oct. 31, 2009. ()

By Shayna Jacobs

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A Harvard grad told police he partied "through the night" on the Lower East Side before walking more than 30 blocks to set a chapel containing the remains of 9/11 victims ablaze, according to court documents released Wednesday.

Brian Schroeder, 26, walked more than two miles from 49 Ludlow St., where he'd been drinking, to the Memorial Chapel on East 30th Street and the FDR Drive on Oct. 31 between 5 and 7 a.m. to set the building on fire, according to prosecutors.

Reportedly acting on a drunken dare, the aspiring lawyer was "profoundly intoxicated" at the time of the incident, his attorney said Wednesday at his Supreme Court arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty.

"He had very limited memories of being inside the building," Schroeder’s attorney, Alan Lewis, told the judge.

"I climbed a fence and went into a place that looked like a building," Schroeder told police when he was arrested, the court papers read. "Inside, I lit up frames, plants and benches."

"It felt like an adventure, and I thought I was dreaming," he added. 

Schroeder was allowed to remain free on $3,000 bail, but he is not permitted to leave Manhattan even though he is a Texas native.

After his arrest, Schroeder lost a job offer from Sidley Austin, a prestigious Manhattan law firm.

He's since been hired by a nonprofit, his lawyer said Wednesday.