Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison

A New York City choose’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 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 residence and abroad, and that may’t be undone,” the decide advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to at least one 12 months of supervised release and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of community service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had asked the judge 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 must 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 advised a 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 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 power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A primary jury trial for five 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 last a couple of month. A second trial for the opposite 4 defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to provide protection legal professionals extra time to organize for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A number of protection attorneys expressed concern about the potential impact if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the identical time as the first trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a cause for another delay, “even if 435 members of Congress start reading 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 guilty, principally 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 Young, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was significantly injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress in regards to the assault.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, including 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 pointers advisable a prison sentence ranging from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors really helpful a sentence of 15 months in jail followed by three years of supervised release.

Mostofsky was one of the first rioters to enter the restricted area across the Capitol and among the first to breach the constructing itself, via the Senate Wing doors, according to prosecutors. He pushed in opposition to a police barrier that officers have been attempting to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, prosecutors said.

“Mostofsky cheered on other rioters as they clashed with police outdoors the Capitol building, even celebrating with a fist-bump to certainly one of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a courtroom submitting.

Contained in the constructing, Mostofsky followed rioters who chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a staircase toward the Senate chambers. He took the police vest and protect with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after coming into.

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

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

A New York Submit reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol during the riot. He informed 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 decide in Brooklyn.

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

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

“I hope at this point you understand 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 coming into and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Mostofsky was the primary Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil dysfunction conviction.

Mostofsky’s legal professionals requested for a sentence of home confinement, probation and community 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 energy.

“He did things he mustn't have accomplished,” Smith stated. “But there’s an enormous distinction between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing unhealthy issues once they find” themselves in a crowd.