Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

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

U.S. District Decide James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “literally 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, both at dwelling and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the decide instructed Mostofsky, 35.

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

Mostofsky had requested the judge 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 deal with that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who must report back 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 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 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 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 begin on Sept. 26 and is expected to final about a month. A second trial for the other 4 defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to provide protection lawyers more time to organize for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A couple of defense attorneys expressed concern about the doable affect if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the same time as the first trial. Mehta mentioned that wouldn’t be a purpose for another delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start studying from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 individuals have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors.

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded guilty on Friday to assaulting Metropolitan Police Division 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 responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was significantly injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress about the assault.

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

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

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted area across the Capitol and among the first to breach the building itself, through the Senate Wing doors, in keeping with prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers had been attempting to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors said.

“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 filing.

Inside 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 protect with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after getting into.

Mostofsky incessantly wears costumes at occasions, in accordance with his lawyers.

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

A New York Submit reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol in the course of the riot. He told the reporter that he stormed the Capitol as a result of “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 decide means that he should have been higher in a position than other defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud had been false,” mentioned Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg mentioned not one of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and pals clarify 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 decide added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor expenses of theft of government property and coming into and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds. Mostofsky was the first Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil disorder conviction.

Mostofsky’s attorneys requested for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and group service. Protection legal professional 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 power.

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