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 prison.

U.S. District Decide James Boasberg stated Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the entrance lines” of the mob’s assault 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 abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the choose told Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to at least one year of supervised release and ordered him to perform 200 hours of neighborhood 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 had to take care of that chaos,” said Mostofsky, who must report to prison in approximately one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a strolling stick and wearing a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He advised 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 decide 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 switch 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, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to begin on Sept. 26 and is predicted to last about a month. A second trial for the other 4 defendants is scheduled to start out on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to offer defense attorneys more time to organize for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A couple of protection attorneys expressed concern in regards to the potential affect 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 cause for another delay, “even if 435 members of Congress start 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, largely 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 Young, pleaded responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was severely injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress concerning the assault.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, together with over 60 who have been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment starting from 14 days to five years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing guidelines advisable a prison sentence ranging from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors really helpful a sentence of 15 months in prison adopted by three years of supervised launch.

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted space around the Capitol and among the many first to breach the building itself, via the Senate Wing doors, in response to prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers were trying to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors stated.

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

Contained in 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 entering.

Mostofsky often wears costumes at events, in accordance with his legal professionals.

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

A New York Submit reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol through 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 choose in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a judge signifies that he should have been higher ready than different defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud have been false,” said Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg mentioned not one of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and friends 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 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 presidency property and getting into and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds. Mostofsky was the primary Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil disorder conviction.

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

“He did things he should not have achieved,” Smith stated. “But there’s a big difference between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who finally ends up doing unhealthy things when they discover” themselves in a crowd.