Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

A New York City decide’s son who stormed the U.S. Capitol wearing a furry “caveman” costume was sentenced on Friday to eight months in prison.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said 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, each at home and abroad, and that may’t be undone,” the judge instructed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to at least one year 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 take care of that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who must report to prison in roughly one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a walking stick and wearing a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He advised 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 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 peaceable 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 anticipated to final about a 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 lawyers extra time to organize for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A couple of protection attorneys expressed concern in regards to the potential influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the similar time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a motive for one more delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

More than 780 individuals have been charged with federal crimes associated 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 severely injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress about the assault.

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

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

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted space across the Capitol and among the many first to breach the constructing itself, via the Senate Wing doors, in keeping with prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers were making an attempt to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot defend, prosecutors mentioned.

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

Inside the constructing, Mostofsky followed rioters who chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a staircase toward the Senate chambers. He took the police vest and shield with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after getting into.

Mostofsky regularly wears costumes at occasions, in keeping with his legal professionals.

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

A New York Publish reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol in the course of the riot. He informed 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 court judge in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a choose means that he ought to have been higher ready 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 household and mates explain how he “went down this rabbit gap of election fantasy.”

“I hope at this point you understand 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 disorder and misdemeanor costs of theft of government property and getting into and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds. Mostofsky was the primary Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil disorder conviction.

Mostofsky’s lawyers asked for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and community 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 peaceful switch of energy.

“He did things he should not have carried out,” Smith said. “However there’s a big difference between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing bad issues when they find” themselves in a crowd.