Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get jail

A New York City decide’s son who stormed the U.S. Capitol wearing 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 entrance traces” 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 residence and overseas, and that may’t be undone,” the judge advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to one yr of supervised launch and ordered him to perform 200 hours of neighborhood 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 had to deal with that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who must report 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 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 judge 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 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 out on Sept. 26 and is anticipated to final about a month. A second trial for the other 4 defendants is scheduled to start out on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to present protection lawyers extra time to arrange for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A couple of protection 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 an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 people 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 Young, pleaded responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was seriously injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress in regards to the attack.

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 advisable a sentence of 15 months in prison followed by three years of supervised launch.

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted area around the Capitol and among the first to breach the building itself, via the Senate Wing doors, in response to prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers had been attempting to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot defend, prosecutors stated.

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

Contained in 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 defend with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after getting into.

Mostofsky frequently wears costumes at occasions, based on his attorneys.

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

A New York Put up reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol through the riot. He advised 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 judge in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a choose implies that he should have been better ready than different defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud were false,” mentioned Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

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

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

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

Mostofsky’s legal professionals asked for a sentence of home confinement, probation and community service. Protection lawyer 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 power.

“He did things he should not have executed,” Smith mentioned. “However there’s a big distinction between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and somebody who ends up doing dangerous issues after they discover” themselves in a crowd.