Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets jail

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

U.S. District Choose James Boasberg stated Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the front traces” 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 may’t be undone,” the decide told Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to one yr of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 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 feel sorry for the officers that had to deal with that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who must report to jail in roughly one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a walking stick and wearing a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He advised 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.

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 energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for 5 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 last a few month. A second trial for the opposite 4 defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to provide defense legal professionals extra time to arrange for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A couple of defense attorneys expressed concern about the doable affect if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the same time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a reason for one more delay, “even if 435 members of Congress start studying from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 individuals 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 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 in regards to the attack.

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

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing guidelines beneficial a prison sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors beneficial a sentence of 15 months in jail adopted by three years of supervised release.

Mostofsky was one of the first rioters to enter the restricted area around the Capitol and among the many first to breach the building itself, through the Senate Wing doorways, in keeping with prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers had been attempting to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors stated.

“Mostofsky cheered on different rioters as they clashed with police outdoors the Capitol constructing, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court 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 getting into.

Mostofsky incessantly wears costumes at occasions, in response to his lawyers.

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

A New York Post reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol during the riot. He instructed 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 courtroom judge in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a choose implies that he should have been higher able than other defendants to know why the claims of election fraud have been false,” stated Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg said none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and buddies clarify how he “went down this rabbit hole 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 decide added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost of civil disorder and misdemeanor fees of theft of government property and coming into and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Mostofsky was the primary Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil dysfunction conviction.

Mostofsky’s attorneys requested for a sentence of home confinement, probation and community service. Protection legal professional Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the crowd” and didn’t go to the Capitol to interfere with the peaceable switch of energy.

“He did issues he mustn't have accomplished,” Smith stated. “But there’s a giant distinction between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing unhealthy things after they discover” themselves in a crowd.