Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get jail

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

U.S. District Decide James Boasberg said Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the entrance 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, both at home and abroad, and that may’t be undone,” the decide instructed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to one year of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of neighborhood service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had requested the decide 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 deal with that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who must report 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 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 peaceable switch of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A primary jury trial for 5 of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start out on Sept. 26 and is anticipated to last a couple of month. A second trial for the opposite 4 defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to provide defense lawyers more time to organize for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A couple of defense attorneys expressed concern about the potential impact if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the same time as the first trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a purpose for an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin studying from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 individuals have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors.

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded responsible 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 Young, pleaded responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was severely injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress concerning the attack.

More than 160 defendants have been sentenced, together with over 60 who have been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment starting from 14 days to 5 years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing guidelines recommended a jail sentence ranging from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors recommended 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 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 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 building, even celebrating with a fist-bump to certainly one of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court docket filing.

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

Mostofsky frequently wears costumes at occasions, in line with his legal professionals.

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

A New York Post reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol throughout the riot. He advised 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 courtroom choose in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a judge signifies that he should have been higher able than other defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud had been false,” stated Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg said none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and mates explain 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 scenario,” the decide added.

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

Mostofsky’s lawyers asked for a sentence of home confinement, probation and group service. Defense lawyer Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the crowd” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intrude with the peaceful transfer of power.

“He did issues he mustn't have achieved,” Smith said. “But there’s a big difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and somebody who ends up doing bad things after they discover” themselves in a crowd.