Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

A New York City 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 Judge James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “literally 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, both at house and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the decide informed Mostofsky, 35.

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

Mostofsky had asked the decide 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,” said Mostofsky, who must report 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 advised a buddy 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 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 5 of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start out 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 give protection lawyers extra time to organize for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A few defense attorneys expressed concern in regards to the doable impact if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the similar time as the first trial. Mehta mentioned that wouldn’t be a cause for an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

More than 780 folks 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 Department 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 Young, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was significantly injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress concerning 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 recommended a jail sentence ranging from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors advisable a sentence of 15 months in prison adopted by three years of supervised launch.

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 response to prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers have been attempting to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, prosecutors stated.

“Mostofsky cheered on other rioters as they clashed with police exterior the Capitol building, even celebrating with a fist-bump to considered one of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court 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 shield with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after coming into.

Mostofsky ceaselessly wears costumes at occasions, according to his legal professionals.

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

A New York Put up 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 courtroom decide in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a judge means that he ought to have been better ready than other defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud have been false,” said Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg said not one of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and mates 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 guilty in February to a felony charge of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor charges 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 dysfunction conviction.

Mostofsky’s attorneys asked for a sentence of home confinement, probation and group service. Protection legal professional Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the group” and didn’t go to the Capitol to interfere with the peaceable transfer of power.

“He did things he shouldn't have performed,” Smith mentioned. “But there’s a giant difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and somebody who finally ends up doing bad issues after they discover” themselves in a crowd.