Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets jail

A New York City judge’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 Judge James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the entrance lines” 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 advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to at least one 12 months of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of group service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had asked 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,” said Mostofsky, who should report to jail in roughly one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a strolling stick and dressed in a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He instructed 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.

Additionally on Friday, a federal judge 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 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 expected to final a couple of month. A second trial for the other four defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to offer protection lawyers more time to prepare for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A few protection attorneys expressed concern in regards to the attainable influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the identical time as the first trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a reason for another delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

More than 780 folks have been charged with federal crimes related 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 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 responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was seriously 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've been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment ranging from 14 days to 5 years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing guidelines beneficial a prison sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors advisable a sentence of 15 months in prison 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 constructing itself, by way of the Senate Wing doorways, in accordance with prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers have been making an attempt to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, prosecutors said.

“Mostofsky cheered on different rioters as they clashed with police outside the Capitol constructing, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one in all his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court docket filing.

Inside the constructing, Mostofsky adopted rioters who chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a staircase toward the Senate chambers. He took the police vest and protect with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after getting into.

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

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

A New York Publish reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol throughout the riot. He advised 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 docket choose in Brooklyn.

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

Boasberg said not one of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and mates clarify how he “went down this rabbit hole of election fantasy.”

“I hope at this level you understand 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 coming into and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds. Mostofsky was the first Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil dysfunction conviction.

Mostofsky’s legal professionals asked for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and group service. Defense attorney Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the group” and didn’t go to the Capitol to interfere with the peaceable transfer of power.

“He did things he should not have accomplished,” Smith mentioned. “But there’s a giant distinction between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and somebody who finally ends up doing bad issues after they find” themselves in a crowd.