Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

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

U.S. District Choose James Boasberg stated 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 told Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to at least one year of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of community service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had requested the decide for mercy, saying he was ashamed of his “contribution to the chaos of that day.”

“I feel sorry for the officers that had to take care of that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who should report back to prison in roughly one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a strolling stick and dressed in a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He told a buddy 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 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 switch 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 begin on Sept. 26 and is predicted to last a few month. A second trial for the opposite four defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to give protection attorneys extra time to prepare for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A number of defense attorneys expressed concern concerning the potential 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 cause for an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start studying 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 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 significantly 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 phrases of imprisonment starting from 14 days to five years and three months.

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

Mostofsky was one of the first rioters to enter the restricted area across the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, via the Senate Wing doors, according to 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 protect, prosecutors said.

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

Inside 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 defend with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after entering.

Mostofsky steadily wears costumes at occasions, in keeping with his lawyers.

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

A New York Put up reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol through 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 courtroom judge in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a decide signifies that he ought to have been higher in a position than other defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud were false,” said Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg stated none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and friends explain 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 situation,” the decide added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty 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 first Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil disorder conviction.

Mostofsky’s lawyers requested for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and community service. Protection lawyer Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the gang” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intrude with the peaceable transfer of power.

“He did issues he mustn't have accomplished,” Smith said. “But there’s an enormous distinction 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.