Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets 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 Choose James Boasberg said 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 residence and overseas, and that can’t be undone,” the judge informed 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 asked the judge for mercy, saying he was ashamed of his “contribution to the chaos of that day.”

“I feel sorry for the officers that needed to deal with that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who must report back to prison 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 told 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.

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 energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for five 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 expected to final a couple of month. A second trial for the opposite four defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to present defense lawyers extra time to prepare for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A number of protection attorneys expressed concern concerning the potential affect if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the similar time as the first trial. Mehta mentioned that wouldn’t be a purpose for an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start studying from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 folks have been charged with federal crimes related 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 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 Young, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was critically injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress about the assault.

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

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

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted space across the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, by means of the Senate Wing doors, according to prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers have been attempting to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot defend, prosecutors mentioned.

“Mostofsky cheered on other rioters as they clashed with police outdoors the Capitol building, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one in every of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

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

Mostofsky regularly 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 house city,” they wrote.

A New York Submit reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol during the riot. He told the reporter that he stormed the Capitol because “the election was stolen.”

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

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

Boasberg mentioned none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and mates 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 scenario,” the judge added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony cost of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor fees of theft of government property and coming into and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds. Mostofsky was the first Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil dysfunction conviction.

Mostofsky’s attorneys requested for a sentence of home confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Defense attorney Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the gang” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intervene with the peaceable switch of energy.

“He did things he mustn't have finished,” Smith stated. “However there’s a big difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and someone who finally ends up doing bad things when they discover” themselves in a crowd.