Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

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 jail.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “actually 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, both at residence and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the judge advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to one year of supervised launch and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of neighborhood 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 really feel sorry for the officers that needed to cope 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 instructed a pal 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 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 first jury trial for five of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start out on Sept. 26 and is predicted to final a few month. A second trial for the opposite four defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to give protection lawyers extra time to prepare for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A few defense attorneys expressed concern about the attainable influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the same time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a reason for an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

More than 780 individuals 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 guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was severely injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress in regards to the assault.

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

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing guidelines really helpful a jail sentence ranging from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 15 months in prison followed by three years of supervised launch.

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, via the Senate Wing doorways, in accordance with prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers had been making an attempt to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors mentioned.

“Mostofsky cheered on other rioters as they clashed with police outside the Capitol constructing, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one in every of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a courtroom filing.

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

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

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

A New York Put up reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol in the course of the riot. He told the reporter that he stormed the Capitol as a result of “the election was stolen.”

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

“The truth that his father is a decide signifies that he should have been better able than different defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud have been false,” mentioned Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

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

“I hope at this point you understand that your indulgence in that fantasy has led to this tragic scenario,” the choose added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony charge of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor prices of theft of presidency property and entering 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 asked for a sentence of residence confinement, probation and community service. Protection attorney Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the group” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intervene with the peaceful switch of power.

“He did issues he shouldn't have executed,” Smith said. “But there’s a giant difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and someone who finally ends up doing unhealthy things after they discover” themselves in a crowd.