Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get jail

A New York City judge’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 Choose James Boasberg said Aaron Mostofsky was “actually 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 dwelling and overseas, and that may’t be undone,” the decide advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to 1 yr of supervised launch and ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had requested the choose 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,” mentioned Mostofsky, who should report back to prison in approximately one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a walking stick and wearing a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He told 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 transfer of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A primary jury trial for five 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 predicted to final a couple of month. A second trial for the opposite four defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to give defense attorneys extra time to organize for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A couple of defense attorneys expressed concern in regards to the possible impression if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the similar time as the primary trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a cause for one more delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

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

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded responsible on Friday to assaulting Metropolitan Police Department 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 critically injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress in regards to the attack.

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

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing tips beneficial a prison sentence ranging from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 15 months in prison adopted by three years of supervised launch.

Mostofsky was one of the first rioters to enter the restricted area around the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, through the Senate Wing doorways, according to prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers have been attempting to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors said.

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

Contained in the constructing, Mostofsky adopted rioters who chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a staircase towards the Senate chambers. He took the police vest and shield with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after coming into.

Mostofsky ceaselessly wears costumes at events, based on his lawyers.

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

A New York Publish reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol during the riot. He informed the reporter that he stormed the Capitol as a result of “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 truth that his father is a decide signifies that he should have been higher able than different defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud were false,” mentioned Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg mentioned none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and friends 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 guilty in February to a felony charge of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor expenses of theft of presidency property and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Mostofsky was the first Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil disorder conviction.

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

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