Shelly Stallings, 43, of Morganfield, Kentucky, pleaded guilty on Aug. 24, 2022, to five felonies and two misdemeanors tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill. She faces up to 56 years behind bars on all the charges. Coffee or Die Magazine composite.
A Kentucky woman who pepper-sprayed cops during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill is now a convicted felon.
On Wednesday, Aug. 24, in Washington, DC, Shelly Stallings, 43, pleaded guilty before US District Judge Amit P. Mehta to seven felony and misdemeanor counts, including assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon, violent entry, and civil disorder.
The Morganfield woman is slated to be sentenced on Jan. 13. She faces up to 56 years behind bars for attacking US Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers in a vain effort to halt the counting of electoral votes that would transfer power from President Donald Trump to Joe Biden.
Stallings inked a plea deal with federal prosecutors on Aug. 12 and remains free on her own recognizance, according to court records.
Shelly Stallings, 43, appears behind her 49-year-old husband, Peter Schwartz (circled), during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill. US Department of Justice composite.
Stallings didn't respond to messages from Coffee or Die Magazine seeking comment. Barred from discussing the case while litigation continues, her court-appointed attorney declined to comment.
A public records review by Coffee or Die turned up a clean rap sheet, without even a traffic ticket to her name. But Stallings confessed to taking a canister of oleoresin capsicum from another rioter and spraying it at officers trying to defend the Capitol from the Jan. 6 mob.
According to her plea agreement, Stallings had driven to Washington, DC, from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, with her 49-year-old husband, Peter Schwartz.
A co-defendant who has been indicted on many of the same charges, Schwartz has pleaded not guilty.
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Carl Prine is a former senior editor at Coffee or Die Magazine. He has worked at Navy Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He served in the Marine Corps and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. His awards include the Joseph Galloway Award for Distinguished Reporting on the military, a first prize from Investigative Reporters & Editors, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
