Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

A New York Metropolis choose’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 Choose James Boasberg said Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the entrance lines” 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, each at dwelling and overseas, and that can’t be undone,” the judge informed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to at least one yr of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of neighborhood 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 really feel sorry for the officers that had to take care of that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who should report back to jail in approximately 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 pal 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 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 peaceful 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 begin on Sept. 26 and is predicted to final a couple of month. A second trial for the opposite 4 defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to offer protection legal professionals extra time to arrange for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A few defense attorneys expressed concern concerning the potential influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the same time as the first trial. Mehta mentioned that wouldn’t be a reason for another delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 individuals have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded responsible, principally 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 Young, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was severely injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress in regards to the attack.

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

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing tips 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 many first rioters to enter the restricted space across the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, by the Senate Wing doorways, in accordance with prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers were trying to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, prosecutors stated.

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

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

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 house city,” they wrote.

A New York Post reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol during 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 courtroom decide in Brooklyn.

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

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

“I hope at this level you understand that your indulgence in that fantasy has led to this tragic scenario,” the judge added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony cost of civil disorder and misdemeanor expenses of theft of presidency property and coming 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 lawyers requested for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Protection attorney Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the gang” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intrude with the peaceable switch of energy.

“He did issues he shouldn't have done,” Smith mentioned. “But there’s a big difference between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and somebody who finally ends up doing dangerous issues once they find” themselves in a crowd.