Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets jail

A New York Metropolis choose’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 Decide James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “literally 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 house and overseas, and that may’t be undone,” the decide informed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to at least one year of supervised release and ordered him to perform 200 hours of group service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had requested the judge 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,” stated Mostofsky, who should report back to prison in approximately one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a walking stick and wearing a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He informed a friend 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 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 five of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to begin on Sept. 26 and is predicted to final a few month. A second trial for the opposite four defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to offer protection lawyers more time to arrange for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A number of defense attorneys expressed concern in regards to the possible impression if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the similar time as the first trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a purpose for one more 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 related to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors.

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded guilty 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 guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was critically injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress about the attack.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, including over 60 who've been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment ranging from 14 days to 5 years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing tips beneficial a jail sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors beneficial 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 space around the Capitol and among the first to breach the building itself, by means of the Senate Wing doors, in accordance with 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 exterior the Capitol constructing, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one in all his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court submitting.

Contained in 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 getting into.

Mostofsky ceaselessly wears costumes at events, in line with his attorneys.

“To place the matter with understatement, the New Yorker is quirky even by the standards of his dwelling city,” they wrote.

A New York Publish reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol throughout the riot. He informed the reporter that he stormed the Capitol because “the election was stolen.”

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

“The truth that his father is a decide means that he should have been higher able than different defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud were false,” mentioned Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

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

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

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony cost of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor fees of theft of presidency property and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Mostofsky was the primary Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil disorder conviction.

Mostofsky’s lawyers asked for a sentence of residence confinement, probation and group service. Defense attorney 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 energy.

“He did issues he shouldn't have accomplished,” Smith mentioned. “However there’s an enormous distinction between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and somebody who ends up doing unhealthy things when they find” themselves in a crowd.