Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get jail

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 Decide James Boasberg stated Aaron Mostofsky was “actually 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 abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the choose advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to at least one 12 months of supervised release and ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

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

“I feel sorry for the officers that needed to take care of that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who should report to prison in approximately 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 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.

Additionally on Friday, a federal judge 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 5 of nine Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start on Sept. 26 and is expected to final a few month. A second trial for the other 4 defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to offer protection legal professionals more time to prepare for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A few defense attorneys expressed concern in regards to the potential impression if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the same time as the primary trial. Mehta mentioned that wouldn’t be a reason for an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin 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 responsible, mostly to misdemeanors.

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded guilty 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 guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was critically injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress about the assault.

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

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing pointers really helpful a prison 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 the first rioters to enter the restricted space across the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, by way of the Senate Wing doorways, in keeping with prosecutors. He pushed in opposition to a police barrier that officers have been attempting to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors mentioned.

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

Inside the constructing, 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 getting into.

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

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

A New York Post reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol in the course of the riot. He advised 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 courtroom judge in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a choose implies that he should have been higher in a position than different defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud were false,” stated Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg stated not one of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and friends explain how he “went down this rabbit gap of election fantasy.”

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

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost of civil disorder and misdemeanor fees of theft of government property and getting into and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Mostofsky was the primary Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil dysfunction conviction.

Mostofsky’s legal professionals asked for a sentence of residence confinement, probation and community service. Protection lawyer 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 mustn't have finished,” Smith said. “But there’s an enormous distinction between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who finally ends up doing unhealthy issues when they find” themselves in a crowd.