Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

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

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the front traces” 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 dwelling and overseas, and that may’t be undone,” the decide instructed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to one yr of supervised release and ordered him to perform 200 hours of neighborhood 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 really feel sorry for the officers that needed to cope with that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who must report back to jail in roughly 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 pal 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 power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A primary jury trial for five of nine 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 few month. A second trial for the opposite four defendants is scheduled to start out on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to provide defense legal professionals more time to arrange for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A few protection attorneys expressed concern concerning the attainable affect if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the identical time as the first trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a reason for an additional delay, “even if 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 guilty, largely to misdemeanors.

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded responsible on Friday to assaulting Metropolitan Police Department 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 seriously injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress in regards to 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 five years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing tips advisable 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 release.

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

“Mostofsky cheered on other 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 courtroom 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 defend with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after coming into.

Mostofsky continuously wears costumes at events, in response to his lawyers.

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

A New York Post reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol during the riot. He instructed 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 court docket choose in Brooklyn.

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

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

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

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost of civil disorder and misdemeanor fees of theft of presidency property and coming 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 attorneys requested for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Defense attorney Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the group” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intervene with the peaceable transfer of energy.

“He did issues he should not have achieved,” Smith mentioned. “But there’s a big distinction between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and somebody who ends up doing dangerous things once they discover” themselves in a crowd.