Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

A New York Metropolis choose’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 Choose James Boasberg said Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the entrance 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 house and overseas, and that can’t be undone,” the choose advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to one 12 months of supervised launch and ordered him to perform 200 hours of neighborhood 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 really feel sorry for the officers that had to cope with that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who must report back to jail 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 instructed a pal 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 peaceable transfer of power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A primary jury trial for five of nine 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 other four defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to offer protection legal professionals more time to arrange for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A couple of defense attorneys expressed concern concerning the possible impact if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the similar time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a purpose for an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 folks 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 Younger, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was severely injured by rioters and has since testified before 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 beneficial a jail sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors really helpful a sentence of 15 months in prison 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 many first to breach the building itself, by the Senate Wing doorways, according to prosecutors. He pushed in opposition to a police barrier that officers were attempting to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors mentioned.

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

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 defend with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after getting into.

Mostofsky frequently wears costumes at occasions, in accordance with his legal professionals.

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

A New York Submit reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol throughout the riot. He instructed 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 truth that his father is a decide means that he ought to have been higher able than other defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud had been false,” stated Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg said not one 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 perceive that your indulgence in that fantasy has led to this tragic scenario,” the choose added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost of civil disorder and misdemeanor fees of theft of presidency property and entering 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 requested for a sentence of house confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Defense attorney 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 power.

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