Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

A New York City choose’s son who stormed the U.S. Capitol sporting a furry “caveman” costume was sentenced on Friday to eight months in jail.

U.S. District Choose James Boasberg said Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the entrance lines” of the mob’s assault on Jan. 6, 2021.

“What you and others did on that day imposed an indelible stain on how our nation is perceived, each at house and overseas, and that can’t be undone,” the choose instructed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to one yr of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of neighborhood service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had asked the choose for mercy, saying he was ashamed of his “contribution to the chaos of that day.”

“I really feel sorry for the officers that had to cope with that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who must report to prison in approximately one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a strolling stick and wearing a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He advised a friend that the costume expressed his perception that “even a caveman” would know that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

Also on Friday, a federal choose agreed to postpone a trial in July for members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group charged with conspiring to forcefully halt the peaceful transfer of power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A primary jury trial for five of nine Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start out on Sept. 26 and is expected to last about a month. A second trial for the opposite four defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to present protection attorneys extra time to arrange for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A few protection attorneys expressed concern in regards to the potential influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the similar time as the first trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a cause for another delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start studying from the report on the courthouse steps.”

More than 780 people have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded guilty, principally to misdemeanors.

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded responsible on Friday to assaulting Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone. Head pulled Fanone right into a crowd of rioters who beat him, shocked him with a stun gun and stole his badge and police radio. An Iowa man, Kyle Young, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was seriously injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress about the assault.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, including over 60 who've been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment ranging from 14 days to five years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing pointers advisable a prison sentence ranging from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors really useful a sentence of 15 months in jail adopted by three years of supervised launch.

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted area across the Capitol and among the many first to breach the constructing itself, via the Senate Wing doorways, in keeping with prosecutors. He pushed in opposition to a police barrier that officers have been trying to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot defend, prosecutors said.

“Mostofsky cheered on different rioters as they clashed with police exterior the Capitol building, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one among his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a courtroom filing.

Contained in the constructing, Mostofsky adopted rioters who chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a staircase towards the Senate chambers. He took the police vest and protect with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after getting into.

Mostofsky steadily wears costumes at occasions, according to his legal professionals.

“To put the matter with understatement, the New Yorker is quirky even by the requirements of his house metropolis,” they wrote.

A New York Post reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol in the course of the riot. He told the reporter that he stormed the Capitol as a result of “the election was stolen.”

Mostofsky has worked as an assistant architect in New York. His father, Steven Mostofsky, is a state court docket decide in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a choose implies that he ought to have been higher ready than other defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud had been false,” stated Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg stated not one of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and buddies clarify how he “went down this rabbit hole of election fantasy.”

“I hope at this level you understand that your indulgence in that fantasy has led to this tragic situation,” the judge added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony charge of civil disorder and misdemeanor costs of theft of presidency property and entering and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds. Mostofsky was the primary Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil dysfunction conviction.

Mostofsky’s attorneys requested for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Protection attorney Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the crowd” and didn’t go to the Capitol to interfere with the peaceable switch of power.

“He did issues he should not have achieved,” Smith said. “However there’s an enormous distinction between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and somebody who ends up doing unhealthy issues after they discover” themselves in a crowd.