Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get jail

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 jail.

U.S. District Choose James Boasberg said 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 home and overseas, and that may’t be undone,” the decide instructed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to at least one year of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of neighborhood service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had requested the choose for mercy, saying he was ashamed of his “contribution to the chaos of that day.”

“I feel sorry for the officers that needed to cope with that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who should report to jail in approximately one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a strolling stick and dressed in a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He informed a good friend that the costume expressed his belief 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 peaceable switch of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for five of nine Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to begin on Sept. 26 and is expected to final a few month. A second trial for the other 4 defendants is scheduled to start out on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to provide protection lawyers extra time to arrange for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A number of protection attorneys expressed concern concerning the potential impression if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the similar time as the primary trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a purpose for another delay, “even if 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 Department 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 about the assault.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, together with over 60 who've been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment starting from 14 days to five years and three months.

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

Mostofsky was one of the first rioters to enter the restricted space around the Capitol and among the first to breach the building itself, by the Senate Wing doors, in keeping with prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers have been attempting to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors mentioned.

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

Mostofsky frequently wears costumes at events, in keeping with his legal professionals.

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

A New York Put up reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol during the riot. He told the reporter that he stormed the Capitol as a result of “the election was stolen.”

Mostofsky has labored as an assistant architect in New York. His father, Steven Mostofsky, is a state court docket judge in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a decide signifies that he should have been higher able than different defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud had been false,” said Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg stated none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and mates 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 choose added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony cost of civil disorder and misdemeanor fees of theft of government property and entering and remaining in a restricted building 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. Defense lawyer Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the gang” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intervene with the peaceful switch of power.

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