Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get prison

A New York Metropolis choose’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 Judge James Boasberg said Aaron Mostofsky was “actually on the front strains” 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 home and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the choose instructed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to one yr 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 cope with that chaos,” said Mostofsky, who must report back to prison 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 perception 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 peaceful transfer of energy after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

A first jury trial for 5 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 final a few month. A second trial for the opposite four defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Choose Amit Mehta agreed to offer protection attorneys more time to arrange for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A couple of defense attorneys expressed concern concerning the potential influence 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 cause for an additional delay, “even when 435 members of Congress start reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”

Greater than 780 individuals 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 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 critically injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress about the assault.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, together with over 60 who've been sentenced to terms of imprisonment starting from 14 days to 5 years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing guidelines really helpful a prison sentence ranging from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors really helpful a sentence of 15 months in jail 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 first to breach the building itself, by means of the Senate Wing doorways, according to prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers had been trying to maneuver and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, prosecutors stated.

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

Contained in the constructing, Mostofsky adopted 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 frequently wears costumes at events, based on his legal professionals.

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

A New York Put up 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 worked as an assistant architect in New York. His father, Steven Mostofsky, is a state court docket choose in Brooklyn.

“The fact that his father is a decide implies that he ought to have been better able than other defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud were false,” mentioned Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg mentioned none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s household and buddies 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 cost of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor expenses of theft of presidency property and coming into and remaining in a restricted constructing or grounds. Mostofsky was the primary Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil disorder conviction.

Mostofsky’s legal professionals asked for a sentence of residence confinement, probation and community service. Protection lawyer Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the gang” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intervene with the peaceable switch of power.

“He did issues he should not have performed,” Smith stated. “But there’s an enormous difference between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and somebody who finally ends up doing dangerous issues after they discover” themselves in a crowd.