Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

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

U.S. District Decide James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the front strains” 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 house and overseas, and that can’t be undone,” the judge instructed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to one year of supervised launch and ordered him to perform 200 hours of group 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 deal with that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who should report to jail 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 advised a 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.

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 peaceable switch of power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for 5 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 expected to last a few month. A second trial for the other 4 defendants is scheduled to start out on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to present defense legal professionals more time to arrange for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A number of defense attorneys expressed concern in regards to the attainable influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the identical time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a reason for one more delay, “even if 435 members of Congress start reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

More than 780 folks 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 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 responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was severely injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress about the attack.

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

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing tips recommended a prison sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors really useful 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 space around the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, via the Senate Wing doorways, in response to prosecutors. He pushed in opposition to a police barrier that officers have been trying to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot defend, prosecutors said.

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

Contained in 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 shield with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after coming into.

Mostofsky frequently wears costumes at events, in accordance with his lawyers.

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

A New York Put up reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol in the course of the riot. He advised 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 choose in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a choose implies that he ought to have been better ready than other defendants to know why the claims of election fraud have been false,” mentioned Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

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

“I hope at this level you understand that your indulgence in that fantasy has led to this tragic state of affairs,” the decide added.

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

Mostofsky’s attorneys requested for a sentence of house confinement, probation and group service. Defense legal professional Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the crowd” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intrude with the peaceable transfer of energy.

“He did issues he shouldn't have accomplished,” Smith mentioned. “But there’s an enormous difference between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing bad issues once they discover” themselves in a crowd.