Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

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

U.S. District Decide James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the entrance 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 dwelling and abroad, and that may’t be undone,” the judge advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to at least one 12 months of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of neighborhood 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 had to take care of 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 advised 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.

Additionally 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 peaceable transfer of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for five 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 about a month. A second trial for the other four defendants is scheduled to begin on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to offer defense legal professionals more time to arrange for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. Just a few protection attorneys expressed concern in regards to the attainable influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the same time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a purpose for one more delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin studying 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, largely 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 Younger, pleaded responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was critically injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress concerning the attack.

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

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing tips advisable 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 many first rioters to enter the restricted area around the Capitol and among the many first to breach the building itself, by means of the Senate Wing doors, in keeping with prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers have been trying to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot protect, prosecutors mentioned.

“Mostofsky cheered on different rioters as they clashed with police outdoors the Capitol constructing, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one in all 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 shield with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after getting into.

Mostofsky regularly wears costumes at events, in keeping 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 Post reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol through 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 courtroom decide in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a judge 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 mentioned none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and pals explain how he “went down this rabbit hole of election fantasy.”

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

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

Mostofsky’s attorneys requested for a sentence of residence confinement, probation and group service. Protection lawyer Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the group” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intrude with the peaceful switch of power.

“He did issues he should not have carried out,” Smith stated. “But there’s an enormous difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing unhealthy issues once they discover” themselves in a crowd.