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

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

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

In addition, Griffin was banned from public office by a state district court decision for his support of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The US Supreme Court in March refused to hear an appeal of the judgment.

Griffin, a cowboy pastor who gained national political fame by embracing then-President Donald Trump with a series of horse caravans, was convicted of misdemeanor and acquitted of disorderly conduct in a 2022 bench trial in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Griffin was sentenced to 14 days in prison and received credit for time served following his arrest in Washington in the days before Joe Biden's inauguration.

Griffin claims he entered the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 without realizing it had been designated a restricted area by the U.S. Secret Service and that he tried to lead a crowd in prayer with a megaphone without using violence. Nearby, Capitol Police struggled to control a mob that prevented Congress from proceeding with certification Biden's victory in the presidential election.

The district court's majority opinion rejected Griffin's arguments that the Capitol was no longer cordoned off when he arrived and that prosecutors should have shown that he knew then-Vice President Mike Pence would be visiting the Capitol to participate in the election certification.

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

Griffin said he plans to appeal the new ruling.

“I will continue 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 didn’t know that area was off limits.”

___

This story has been updated to correct the name of the federal appeals court to “Circuit Court of Appeals” rather than “Appeal.”