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who took a job at a non-profit organization after a job offer from Sidley Austin, a major New York law firm, was rescinded following the incident.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.