Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

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

U.S. District Choose James Boasberg stated Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the entrance strains” 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 home and abroad, and that may’t be undone,” the decide instructed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to at least one 12 months of supervised launch and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of group 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 feel sorry for the officers that needed to deal with that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who should report back to jail in roughly 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 buddy 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 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 peaceable switch of power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A primary jury trial for five of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start on Sept. 26 and is predicted to final a couple of 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 protection attorneys extra time to organize for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A few protection attorneys expressed concern about the potential impact if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the similar time as the first trial. Mehta mentioned that wouldn’t be a motive for an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 folks have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded responsible, 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 Young, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was significantly injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress about the attack.

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

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing guidelines advisable a prison sentence ranging 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 area across the Capitol and among the many first to breach the constructing itself, by the Senate Wing doorways, in keeping with prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers had been making an attempt 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 building, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one in all his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a courtroom submitting.

Contained in the building, Mostofsky adopted 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 continuously wears costumes at events, in accordance with his legal professionals.

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

A New York Post reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol through the riot. He told the reporter that he stormed the Capitol as a result of “the election was stolen.”

Mostofsky has worked as an assistant architect in New York. His father, Steven Mostofsky, is a state court docket judge in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a decide means that he ought to have been better able than other defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud had been false,” mentioned Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg stated none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and buddies 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 situation,” the judge added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony cost of civil disorder and misdemeanor prices 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 residence 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 intrude with the peaceful transfer of power.

“He did things he should not have carried out,” Smith said. “But there’s a giant difference between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and somebody who ends up doing bad issues once they discover” themselves in a crowd.