Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

A New York Metropolis decide’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 stated Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the front strains” 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 dwelling and abroad, and that may’t be undone,” the choose 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 requested the decide 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 take care of that chaos,” said Mostofsky, who should report 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 told 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.

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 peaceable 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 anticipated to final about a month. A second trial for the other four defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to present protection legal professionals extra time to organize for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A few defense attorneys expressed concern concerning the doable impact if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the same time as the primary trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a motive for another delay, “even if 435 members of Congress begin reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

More than 780 people have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded responsible, largely 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 significantly injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress in regards to the assault.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, including 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 really helpful a jail sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 15 months in prison followed by three years of supervised launch.

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, based on prosecutors. He pushed in opposition to a police barrier that officers have been making an attempt to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot defend, prosecutors said.

“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 courtroom submitting.

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

Mostofsky frequently wears costumes at occasions, in keeping with his lawyers.

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

A New York Post reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol in the course of 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 court docket judge in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a judge implies that he ought to have been higher able than other defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud had been false,” stated Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg stated not one of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and associates explain how he “went down this rabbit gap of election fantasy.”

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

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony charge of civil disorder and misdemeanor charges 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 dysfunction conviction.

Mostofsky’s legal professionals requested for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Protection legal professional Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the gang” and didn’t go to the Capitol to interfere with the peaceful transfer of energy.

“He did things he shouldn't have executed,” Smith stated. “However there’s an enormous difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing bad issues when they find” themselves in a crowd.