Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets jail

A New York Metropolis 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 Choose James Boasberg said Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the entrance 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 house and overseas, and that may’t be undone,” the choose advised Mostofsky, 35.

Boasberg additionally sentenced Mostofsky to 1 12 months of supervised launch 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 feel sorry for the officers that had to deal with that chaos,” stated Mostofsky, who should report back to prison in roughly one month.

Mostofsky was carrying a strolling stick and wearing 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.

Additionally 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 primary jury trial for 5 of 9 Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start out on Sept. 26 and is anticipated to final about a month. A second trial for the other 4 defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.

U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta agreed to provide protection lawyers extra time to arrange for trial however indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A couple of protection attorneys expressed concern in regards to the possible influence if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the similar time as the primary trial. Mehta stated that wouldn’t be a purpose for another delay, “even when 435 members of Congress begin studying from the report on the courthouse steps.”

More than 780 individuals have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded guilty, 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 seriously injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress concerning the assault.

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

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

Mostofsky was one of many first rioters to enter the restricted space across the Capitol and among the many first to breach the constructing itself, via the Senate Wing doors, based on prosecutors. He pushed towards a police barrier that officers were making an attempt to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot defend, prosecutors stated.

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

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

Mostofsky frequently wears costumes at events, according to his attorneys.

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

A New York Post reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol throughout the riot. He told the reporter that he stormed the Capitol because “the election was stolen.”

Mostofsky has labored as an assistant architect in New York. His father, Steven Mostofsky, is a state courtroom judge in Brooklyn.

“The truth that his father is a decide signifies that he should have been higher in a position than different defendants to grasp why the claims of election fraud had been false,” stated Justice Division prosecutor Michael Romano.

Boasberg stated not one 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 choose added.

Aaron Mostofsky pleaded responsible in February to a felony cost 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 attorneys asked for a sentence of house confinement, probation and community service. Defense lawyer Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the group” and didn’t go to the Capitol to intervene with the peaceful switch of power.

“He did issues he should not have executed,” Smith stated. “However there’s a giant difference between an ideologue who's motivated to commit violence and somebody who ends up doing dangerous things once they find” themselves in a crowd.