Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

A New York Metropolis judge’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 Choose James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the front strains” 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 house and overseas, and that may’t be undone,” the decide told Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to 1 year of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of neighborhood service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had requested 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 had to take care of that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who should report to prison in approximately one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a strolling stick and dressed in a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He instructed a good 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.

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 peaceful transfer of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A primary jury trial for five of nine Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start out on Sept. 26 and is anticipated to last a few month. A second trial for the other 4 defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to present protection attorneys extra time to arrange for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A few defense attorneys expressed concern concerning the possible impression if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the similar time as the first trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a purpose for another 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 responsible, mostly to misdemeanors.

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded responsible on Friday to assaulting Metropolitan Police Division 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 Younger, pleaded responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was seriously injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress in regards to the assault.

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

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

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted space across the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, via the Senate Wing doorways, in response to prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers had been trying to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors stated.

“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.

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

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

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

A New York Publish reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol in the course of the riot. He informed 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 decide in Brooklyn.

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

Boasberg said not one of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and pals 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 judge added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor fees 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 residence 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 interfere with the peaceful transfer of power.

“He did things he mustn't have performed,” Smith mentioned. “However there’s a big difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing bad issues once they discover” themselves in a crowd.