Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

A New York City judge’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 Judge James Boasberg stated Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the front 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 house and overseas, and that can’t be undone,” the choose told Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to 1 yr of supervised launch and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of group 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 feel sorry for the officers that needed to deal with that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who must report back to jail 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 instructed a pal 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 judge 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 five of nine 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 opposite four defendants is scheduled to start out on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to present defense lawyers extra time to organize for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A couple of defense attorneys expressed concern about the attainable influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the identical time as the first trial. Mehta mentioned that wouldn’t be a motive for an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start studying from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded responsible, largely 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 critically injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress about the assault.

More than 160 defendants have been sentenced, together with over 60 who have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment starting from 14 days to 5 years and three months.

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

Mostofsky was one of the first rioters to enter the restricted space around the Capitol and among the many first to breach the constructing itself, by way of the Senate Wing doors, based on prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers had been attempting to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, prosecutors stated.

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

Inside the building, 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 entering.

Mostofsky often wears costumes at occasions, based on his lawyers.

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

A New York Submit reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol through the riot. He informed 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 judge in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a judge signifies that he should have been better in a position than different defendants to know why the claims of election fraud had been false,” said Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

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

“I hope at this point you perceive that your indulgence in that fantasy has led to this tragic state of affairs,” the decide added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony charge of civil disorder and misdemeanor costs of theft of government property and coming into 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 requested for a sentence of house confinement, probation and community service. Defense lawyer 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 should not have accomplished,” Smith mentioned. “However there’s an enormous difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and somebody who ends up doing bad issues after they discover” themselves in a crowd.