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 Judge 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, both at house and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the choose advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to 1 year of supervised release and ordered him to perform 200 hours of neighborhood 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 had to cope with that chaos,” said Mostofsky, who should report to jail in approximately one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a strolling stick and dressed in a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He instructed a pal 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 switch of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A primary jury trial for five of nine Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start on Sept. 26 and is expected to final a few month. A second trial for the opposite 4 defendants is scheduled to start out on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to give protection legal professionals more time to organize for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. Just a few defense attorneys expressed concern about the doable influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the identical time as the first trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a cause for another delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 individuals 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 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 guilty 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 phrases of imprisonment starting from 14 days to 5 years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing tips beneficial a jail sentence ranging from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors beneficial a sentence of 15 months in jail followed by three years of supervised release.

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted space across the Capitol and among the many first to breach the building itself, by way of the Senate Wing doorways, in keeping with prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers were trying to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, prosecutors said.

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

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

Mostofsky often wears costumes at occasions, according to his attorneys.

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

A New York Publish reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol during 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 courtroom choose in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a choose implies that he should have been better in a position than other defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud had been false,” said Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg mentioned 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 scenario,” the decide added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor expenses of theft of government 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 residence confinement, probation and group service. Defense attorney 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 energy.

“He did things he mustn't have executed,” Smith stated. “But there’s a giant difference between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who finally ends up doing dangerous issues when they find” themselves in a crowd.