Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

A New York City 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 Judge James Boasberg stated Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the entrance 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 dwelling and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the judge informed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to 1 yr 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 really feel sorry for the officers that needed to take care of that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who should report back 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 belief 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 transfer of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for 5 of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start on Sept. 26 and is anticipated to final a couple of month. A second trial for the other four defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to offer defense lawyers extra time to organize for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A few defense attorneys expressed concern concerning the attainable influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the similar time as the primary trial. Mehta mentioned 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 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 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 earlier than Congress about the assault.

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

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

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted space around the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, through the Senate Wing doorways, in response to prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers were trying to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors stated.

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

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

Mostofsky steadily wears costumes at occasions, based on his legal professionals.

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

A New York Post reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol in the course of 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 judge in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a choose means that he ought to have been higher in a position than different defendants to know why the claims of election fraud had been false,” stated Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg stated none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and buddies clarify how he “went down this rabbit gap of election fantasy.”

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

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony charge of civil disorder and misdemeanor costs of theft of presidency property and coming into and remaining in a restricted constructing 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 dwelling confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Defense 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 transfer of energy.

“He did things he should not have accomplished,” Smith mentioned. “But there’s a giant difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and someone who finally ends up doing unhealthy things after they find” themselves in a crowd.