January 6 rioter Couy Griffin convicted of trespassing

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. sustained the conviction on Tuesday, October 22, of Couy Griffin, founder of Cowboys for Trump and former Otero County District 2 commissioner, for transfer at the United States Capitol during the riots on January 6, 2020.

The 2-to-1 decision came after Judge Judith Rogers, appointed by President Bill Clinton, sided with Judge Nina Pillard, appointed by Barack Obama, and agreed that the trial evidence was sufficient to demonstrate that the Capitol grounds were “posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted.” “.

According to court documents, Griffin walked up the Capitol lawn to the base of the inaugural stage by scaling two walls and told a camera “we’re in,” and joked with a masked rioter that he needed a mask, too. to hide his identity. As the crowd advanced toward the Capitol, rioters shouted “this is our house” and “break down the doors.”

“Griffin knew they were severely restrained when he entered and remained there,” Pillard stated in the court opinion. “Griffin’s public statements in the days after January 6 confirm that Griffin knew, when he entered and remained in the Capitol, that the area was ‘restricted.'”

Griffin recalled that the inaugural stage he climbed was “cordoned off” on Jan. 7, and that “DC police” told rioters “you can’t get over this.” He said that on Jan. 14 “there were some fences” that alerted rioters that they “couldn’t go any further,” but the crowd, including Griffin, “just pushed their way through,” according to court documents.

In addition to being restricted, cordoned off, or cordoned off, the area where a Secret Service protectee (a current or former president or vice president) visits or will visit is restricted. In the dissenting opinion, Judge Greg Katsas, a Donald Trump appointee, said the court did not determine whether Griffin knew that Vice President Mike Pence was still present at the Capitol when Griffin invaded the property.

Katsas, a Trump appointee, noted that of the more than 470 convictions, district judges are “deeply divided” on whether the defendant had to know that Pence was present at the time of the invasion.

“The government was not required to show that Griffin was aware that the vice president’s presence was the reason the grounds remained restricted,” Pillard wrote in the opinion. “Therefore, we affirm the judgment of conviction.”

Due to his arrest by the FBI in the January 6 Capitol riots, Griffin was barred from holding office in New Mexico, including his then position as Otero County commissioner.

Although US representative candidate Yvette Herrell he distanced himself of Couy Griffin in 2021, previously said in a since-deleted Facebook post: “Cowboys For Trump is truly one of the endorsements I’m most proud of! Keep up the great work, Couy!”

Griffin has also said “The only good democrat is a dead democrat.,” and “return to africa”, to New Mexicans participating in the Black Lives Matter movements.

Lauren Shults is the public safety reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. Send an email to [email protected] and follow her on X @laurenshults.