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Esther Schwemmer

Pardoned January 6 defendant

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Esther Schwemmer is a retired grandmother from Leavenworth, Kansas — a woman who spent decades building a family and a life in the heart of the country before she ever became a name on a federal docket. She is somebody's grandmother. That is the headline. Esther Schwemmer of Leavenworth, Kansas, was among the everyday Kansans swept into the events of January 6. After the rally in Washington, D.C., Schwemmer and a friend walked to the Capitol and entered through an east-side entrance where doors were already broken open, staying about 15 minutes. Prosecutors themselves acknowledged that Esther Schwemmer engaged in no destruction and no violence, and that she left when police directed her to. Esther Schwemmer pleaded guilty on September 28, 2021, to a single misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. On January 10, 2022, she was sentenced to two years of probation, 60 hours of community service, and $500 in restitution. On January 20, 2025, President Trump granted clemency to the January 6 defendants, and Esther Schwemmer of Kansas was among those pardoned. Case record: United States v. Esther Schwemmer, No. 1:21-cr-364, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. This profile is unclaimed. If this is you — or your family — claiming it is free, forever.