Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets jail

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 prison.

U.S. District Decide 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 dwelling and abroad, and that may’t be undone,” the decide advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to at least one yr of supervised release and ordered him to perform 200 hours of group 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,” said 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.

Also 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 peaceable switch of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A primary jury trial for 5 of nine Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start on Sept. 26 and is predicted to last a few month. A second trial for the other 4 defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to present defense lawyers extra time to organize for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A few protection attorneys expressed concern in regards to the attainable impression if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the same time as the primary trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a motive for an additional delay, “even if 435 members of Congress begin reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 folks have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded responsible, principally to misdemeanors.

A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded responsible 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 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, together with over 60 who have been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment starting from 14 days to five years and three months.

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

Mostofsky was one of the first rioters to enter the restricted area around the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, through the Senate Wing doors, based on prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers were trying 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 of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court docket 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 defend with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after getting into.

Mostofsky steadily wears costumes at occasions, in keeping with his attorneys.

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

A New York Put up reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol through the riot. He advised 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 choose in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a choose means that he ought to have been better ready than other defendants to know why the claims of election fraud were false,” stated Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg said none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family 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 judge added.

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

Mostofsky’s lawyers requested for a sentence of dwelling confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Defense legal professional Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the gang” and didn’t go to the Capitol to interfere with the peaceable switch of power.

“He did issues he shouldn't have finished,” Smith stated. “However there’s an enormous distinction between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing dangerous things when they discover” themselves in a crowd.