Conviction upheld against former county official for illegally entering Capitol grounds on Jan. 6

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A federal appeals court upheld on Tuesday a conviction against a former New Mexico county commissioner for illegally entering the U.S. Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

A panel of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the 2022 conviction against Couy Griffin, of Tularosa, in a 2-1 decision.

Separately, Griffin has been banished from public office for aiding in insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, under a state district court ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court in March refused to hear an appeal of the ruling.

Griffin, a cowboy pastor who rode to national political fame by embracing then-President Donald Trump with a series of horseback caravans, was convicted of the misdemeanor charge at a 2022 bench trial at U.S. District Court in Washington while being acquitted of disorderly conduct.

Griffin was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served after his arrest in Washington in the days leading up to Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Griffin contends that he entered the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 without recognizing that it had been designated as a restricted area by the U.S. Secret Service and that he attempted to lead a crowd in prayer using a bullhorn, without engaging in violence. Nearby, Capitol police struggled to control a mob that disrupted Congress from certifying Biden’s presidential election victory.

The majority opinion from the Circuit Court rejected Griffin’s arguments that the Capitol was no longer cordoned off when he arrived and that prosecutors should have been required to prove that he knew that then-Vice President Mike Pence would be visiting the Capitol to participate in the election certification.

In a dissenting opinion, Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas said the lower court erred by not ruling on whether Griffin knew that Pence was present.

Griffin said he plans to appeal the new ruling.

“I will continue in this fight for justice because this issue is much bigger than the plight of Couy Griffin,” he said in a text message. “With God as my witness I did not know that area was restricted.”

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This story has been updated to correct the name of the federal appeals court to the Circuit Court of Appeals, not Appeal.

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