Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

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

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the front lines” of the mob’s attack 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 abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the judge instructed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to 1 yr of supervised launch and ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

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

“I really feel sorry for the officers that needed to take care of that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who should report back to prison in roughly one month.

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

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

A first jury trial for 5 of nine Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start on Sept. 26 and is anticipated to final about a month. A second trial for the other four defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to give protection attorneys extra time to prepare for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. Just a few defense attorneys expressed concern about the doable impact if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the similar time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a cause for another delay, “even if 435 members of Congress begin reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

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

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded guilty on Friday to assaulting Metropolitan Police Division Officer Michael Fanone. Head pulled Fanone 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 Younger, pleaded responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was severely injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress concerning the assault.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, together with over 60 who have been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment ranging from 14 days to 5 years and three months.

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

Mostofsky was one of the first rioters to enter the restricted space around the Capitol and among the many first to breach the building itself, by means of the Senate Wing doors, in accordance with prosecutors. He pushed in opposition to a police barrier that officers have been making an attempt 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 of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court submitting.

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

Mostofsky incessantly wears costumes at events, in response to his attorneys.

“To put the matter with understatement, the New Yorker is quirky even by the standards of his home city,” they wrote.

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

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

“The fact that his father is a choose means that he ought to have been better in a position than other defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud were false,” stated Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg said none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and friends explain how he “went down this rabbit gap of election fantasy.”

“I hope at this level you perceive that your indulgence in that fantasy has led to this tragic scenario,” the decide added.

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

Mostofsky’s lawyers requested for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and group service. Defense attorney Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the crowd” and didn’t go to the Capitol to interfere with the peaceful transfer of energy.

“He did things he shouldn't have performed,” Smith mentioned. “But there’s a big distinction between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and somebody who finally ends up doing bad issues once they discover” themselves in a crowd.