Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume will get jail

A New York Metropolis judge’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 Choose James Boasberg mentioned 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, both at house and abroad, and that may’t be undone,” the decide informed Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to 1 12 months of supervised release and ordered him to perform 200 hours of community 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 really feel sorry for the officers that needed to cope with that chaos,” mentioned Mostofsky, who must report back to prison in roughly one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a walking stick and wearing a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He advised a 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.

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 peaceful switch of power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

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

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to give protection attorneys more time to prepare for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant one other delay. Just a few protection attorneys expressed concern in regards to the possible influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report across the similar time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a reason for an additional delay, “even if 435 members of Congress start studying 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 right 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 critically injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress about the attack.

Greater than 160 defendants have been sentenced, including over 60 who have been sentenced to phrases of imprisonment ranging from 14 days to five years and three months.

In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing tips recommended a jail sentence starting from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors really helpful a sentence of 15 months in prison adopted 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, in line with prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers have been 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 exterior the Capitol constructing, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a courtroom filing.

Contained in the building, Mostofsky adopted rioters who chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a staircase towards the Senate chambers. He took the police vest and protect with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after entering.

Mostofsky ceaselessly wears costumes at occasions, in line with his legal professionals.

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

A New York Post reporter interviewed him contained in the Capitol during the riot. He instructed 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 docket judge in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a choose implies that he ought to have been better in a position than different 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 family and mates explain 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 decide added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony charge of civil dysfunction and misdemeanor charges 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 dysfunction conviction.

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

“He did issues he should not have completed,” Smith said. “But there’s an enormous distinction between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing dangerous things once they discover” themselves in a crowd.