Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets jail

A New York City judge’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 Choose James Boasberg said 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 house and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the choose informed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to at least one yr 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 feel sorry for the officers that had to cope with that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who should report back to prison in approximately one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a walking stick and dressed in a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He advised a good friend that the costume expressed his perception 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 peaceful switch of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for five 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 expected to last a few month. A second trial for the other four defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to offer protection attorneys more time to arrange for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A few protection attorneys expressed concern in regards to the attainable 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 cause for one more delay, “even if 435 members of Congress start studying 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, principally 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 severely injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress concerning the attack.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, together with over 60 who've been sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging 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 really useful a sentence of 15 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted space around the Capitol and among the many first to breach the constructing itself, by way of the Senate Wing doorways, in response to prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers have been making an attempt to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors mentioned.

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

Inside 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 entering.

Mostofsky incessantly wears costumes at occasions, in accordance with his lawyers.

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

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

Mostofsky has worked 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 decide means that he ought to have been better ready than different defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud have been false,” stated Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg mentioned not one of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and buddies clarify 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 state of affairs,” the choose added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony cost of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor charges of theft of government 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 legal professionals requested for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Protection lawyer Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the crowd” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intervene with the peaceable switch of energy.

“He did things he mustn't have completed,” Smith said. “However there’s a giant difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing unhealthy issues when they find” themselves in a crowd.