Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

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

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the front lines” 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, each at home and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the judge advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to 1 year of supervised launch and ordered him to perform 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 really feel sorry for the officers that had to cope with that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who must report to prison in approximately one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a strolling stick and dressed in a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He informed a friend that the costume expressed his belief 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 transfer of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for 5 of nine Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start on Sept. 26 and is expected to final a couple of month. A second trial for the opposite 4 defendants is scheduled to start out on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to offer protection attorneys more time to arrange for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A number of defense 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 an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start reading 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, largely to misdemeanors.

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

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 guidelines beneficial a prison sentence ranging 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 space across the Capitol and among the many first to breach the constructing itself, by means of the Senate Wing doors, in accordance with prosecutors. He pushed in opposition to a police barrier that officers were making an attempt to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors mentioned.

“Mostofsky cheered on other rioters as they clashed with police exterior the Capitol building, even celebrating with a fist-bump to considered one of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court submitting.

Contained in 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 entering.

Mostofsky steadily wears costumes at occasions, according to his attorneys.

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

A New York Post reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol in the course of the riot. He told 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 decide in Brooklyn.

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

Boasberg said none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and mates explain how he “went down this rabbit hole of election fantasy.”

“I hope at this point you perceive that your indulgence in that fantasy has led to this tragic situation,” the judge added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor prices of theft of presidency property and getting 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 legal professionals requested for a sentence of home 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 peaceful switch of energy.

“He did things he mustn't have done,” Smith stated. “But there’s a big distinction between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who finally ends up doing dangerous issues once they find” themselves in a crowd.