Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets 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 prison.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “literally 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 abroad, and that may’t be undone,” the choose instructed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to 1 12 months of supervised launch and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of community service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had requested 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 needed to cope with that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who must 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 told 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 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 primary jury trial for five of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start on Sept. 26 and is expected to last a couple of month. A second trial for the opposite 4 defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to provide protection legal professionals extra time to prepare for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A number of protection attorneys expressed concern about the potential impression if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the same time as the primary trial. Mehta mentioned that wouldn’t be a purpose for another delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start 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, principally to misdemeanors.

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded guilty on Friday to assaulting Metropolitan Police Department 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 attack.

More 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 tips beneficial a prison sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 15 months in prison adopted by three years of supervised release.

Mostofsky was one of the first rioters to enter the restricted area across the Capitol and among the many first to breach the constructing itself, by way of the Senate Wing doors, in keeping with prosecutors. He pushed in opposition to a police barrier that officers were attempting to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors stated.

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

Inside the constructing, 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 entering.

Mostofsky steadily wears costumes at occasions, in keeping with his legal professionals.

“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 inside the Capitol in the course of the riot. He instructed 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 court decide in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a decide signifies that he should have been higher ready than other defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud had been false,” said Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

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

“I hope at this point you perceive that your indulgence in that fantasy has led to this tragic state of affairs,” the judge added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony charge of civil disorder and misdemeanor costs 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 disorder conviction.

Mostofsky’s attorneys requested for a sentence of home confinement, probation and community service. Defense lawyer Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the crowd” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intrude with the peaceable switch of power.

“He did issues he should not have carried out,” Smith mentioned. “However there’s a giant difference between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing dangerous things once they find” themselves in a crowd.