Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets jail

A New York Metropolis decide’s son who stormed the U.S. Capitol wearing a furry “caveman” costume was sentenced on Friday to eight months in prison.

U.S. District Choose James Boasberg stated Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the entrance 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, both at residence and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the judge advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to one year of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of neighborhood service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had asked 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 take care of that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who must report to prison 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 informed 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 switch of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for 5 of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to begin on Sept. 26 and is expected to final a couple of month. A second trial for the opposite 4 defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to provide defense lawyers extra time to prepare for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A few defense attorneys expressed concern concerning the potential impact if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the same time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a motive for an additional delay, “even if 435 members of Congress start reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

More 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 responsible 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 significantly 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 terms of imprisonment starting from 14 days to five years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing tips advisable a prison sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 15 months in jail 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, by the Senate Wing doorways, based on prosecutors. He pushed in opposition to a police barrier that officers have been attempting to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot defend, prosecutors said.

“Mostofsky cheered on different 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 docket filing.

Inside the constructing, Mostofsky followed rioters who chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a staircase towards 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, based on his lawyers.

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

A New York Put up reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol in the course of the riot. He advised 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 judge in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a judge means that he ought to have been better in a position than different defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud were false,” mentioned Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg stated not one of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and pals clarify 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 choose added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty 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 first Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil dysfunction conviction.

Mostofsky’s lawyers asked for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Protection attorney Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the group” and didn’t go to the Capitol to interfere with the peaceable transfer of power.

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