Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get jail

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

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg stated Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the front traces” 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, each at home and abroad, and that may’t be undone,” the choose told Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to 1 year of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of group 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 feel sorry for the officers that needed to deal with that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who should report back to jail in roughly one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a walking stick and wearing a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He instructed a good friend 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 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 power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for 5 of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start on Sept. 26 and is predicted to final a few month. A second trial for the other four defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to offer defense attorneys more time to organize for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A number of protection attorneys expressed concern concerning the doable impression if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the identical time as the first trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a reason for one more delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

More than 780 people 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 responsible 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 Young, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was critically injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress about the attack.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, including over 60 who've been sentenced to terms of imprisonment starting from 14 days to 5 years and three months.

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

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted space across the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, through the Senate Wing doorways, based on prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers had been making an attempt to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, 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 court docket submitting.

Contained in the building, Mostofsky followed 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 incessantly wears costumes at events, in line with his attorneys.

“To place the matter with understatement, the New Yorker is quirky even by the standards of his house 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 judge in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a judge signifies that he should have been better in a position than other defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud had been false,” mentioned Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg mentioned none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and mates 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 choose added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony charge of civil disorder and misdemeanor charges of theft of presidency property and coming into and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds. Mostofsky was the primary Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil dysfunction conviction.

Mostofsky’s legal professionals requested for a sentence of home confinement, probation and group service. Protection legal professional Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the crowd” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intervene with the peaceful switch of energy.

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