Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

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

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg stated Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the front 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 dwelling and overseas, and that may’t be undone,” the decide told Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to 1 12 months of supervised release and ordered him to perform 200 hours of group 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 deal with that chaos,” said Mostofsky, who should report back to jail in roughly one month.

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

Additionally 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 peaceable transfer of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

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

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to present protection lawyers extra time to arrange for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A few protection attorneys expressed concern concerning the possible affect if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the same time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a cause for one more delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin studying from the report on the courthouse steps.”

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

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

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

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing guidelines really useful a prison sentence starting 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 around the Capitol and among the many first to breach the building itself, through the Senate Wing doors, in accordance with prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers had been attempting to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, prosecutors stated.

“Mostofsky cheered on other rioters as they clashed with police exterior the Capitol constructing, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court docket submitting.

Inside the building, Mostofsky adopted 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, based on his attorneys.

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

A New York Put up reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol through the riot. He instructed 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 courtroom choose in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a decide signifies that he ought to have been better able than other defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud had been false,” mentioned Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

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

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

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony charge of civil disorder and misdemeanor expenses 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 legal professionals requested for a sentence of house confinement, probation and community service. Defense legal professional Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the group” and didn’t go to the Capitol to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power.

“He did things he should not have accomplished,” Smith said. “But there’s a big difference between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing bad issues after they find” themselves in a crowd.