Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets jail

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

U.S. District Decide James Boasberg mentioned Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the front lines” of the mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

“What you and others did on that day imposed an indelible stain on how our nation is perceived, both at home and overseas, and that can’t be undone,” the judge told Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to 1 12 months of supervised launch and ordered him to perform 200 hours of group service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

Mostofsky had asked the choose for mercy, saying he was ashamed of his “contribution to the chaos of that day.”

“I really feel sorry for the officers that needed to deal with that chaos,” said Mostofsky, who should report to jail in roughly one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a walking stick and dressed in a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He informed a good friend that the costume expressed his perception that “even a caveman” would know that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

Also on Friday, a federal decide 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 first jury trial for five of nine Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, together with group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to begin on Sept. 26 and is predicted to last about a month. A second trial for the opposite 4 defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to present defense legal professionals more time to prepare for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. A number of defense attorneys expressed concern concerning the doable affect if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the identical time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a reason for another delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 folks 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 Young, pleaded responsible on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was critically injured by rioters and has since testified earlier than Congress concerning the attack.

More than 160 defendants have been sentenced, including 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 pointers really useful a jail sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors beneficial a sentence of 15 months in prison adopted by three years of supervised release.

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

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

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 defend with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after coming into.

Mostofsky continuously wears costumes at occasions, based on his legal professionals.

“To put 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 contained in the Capitol through the riot. He instructed 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 fact that his father is a decide signifies that he should have been higher in a position than other defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud had been false,” stated Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg stated none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and associates clarify how he “went down this rabbit gap of election fantasy.”

“I hope at this level you understand 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 cost of civil disorder and misdemeanor charges of theft of presidency property and getting 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 lawyers requested for a sentence of house confinement, probation and neighborhood service. Defense legal professional Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the group” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intrude with the peaceable transfer of power.

“He did things he should not have finished,” Smith mentioned. “But there’s a giant difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and somebody who ends up doing dangerous issues once they discover” themselves in a crowd.