Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

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 mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the entrance traces” 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 dwelling and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the decide told Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to 1 yr of supervised launch and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of neighborhood service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had requested 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 cope with that chaos,” said Mostofsky, who must report back to jail 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 informed a buddy 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 primary jury trial for five of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to begin on Sept. 26 and is anticipated to last a couple of month. A second trial for the other four defendants is scheduled to start out on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to provide protection attorneys more time to arrange for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. Just a few protection attorneys expressed concern in regards to the possible influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the identical time as the first trial. Mehta mentioned that wouldn’t be a cause for one more delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin studying from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded guilty, principally to misdemeanors.

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded guilty on Friday to assaulting Metropolitan Police Department 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 responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was severely injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress in regards to the assault.

More than 160 defendants have been sentenced, including over 60 who've been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment ranging from 14 days to 5 years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing tips really useful a prison sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors beneficial a sentence of 15 months in jail 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 building itself, by way of the Senate Wing doors, according to prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers were attempting to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, prosecutors stated.

“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 court docket filing.

Inside 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 protect with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after getting into.

Mostofsky often wears costumes at occasions, in accordance with his attorneys.

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

A New York Publish reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol in the course of the riot. He informed the reporter that he stormed the Capitol because “the election was stolen.”

Mostofsky has labored as an assistant architect in New York. His father, Steven Mostofsky, is a state court decide in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a decide means that he should have been higher ready than different defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud were false,” stated Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg mentioned none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and friends 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 judge added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor charges of theft of presidency property and entering and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds. Mostofsky was the primary Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil disorder conviction.

Mostofsky’s lawyers requested for a sentence of house confinement, probation and group service. Protection lawyer Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the gang” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intervene with the peaceful transfer of energy.

“He did issues he should not have carried out,” Smith said. “However there’s a big difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and somebody who finally ends up doing unhealthy things when they find” themselves in a crowd.