The Washington, D.C. federal court of appeals upheld the conviction of the Cowboys for Trump group founder on Tuesday in a precedent-setting decision, CNN reported.
Couy Griffin was convicted for entering a restricted part of the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He argued that he should not be convicted because he did not know the Secret Service was protecting then-Vice President Mike Pence or that the area was restricted.
The court rejected this argument in a ruling that supports the approach the Justice Department used to prosecute hundreds of the rioters who stormed the Capitol. More broadly, it also clarifies restrictions on entering an area in which the Secret Service is protecting a public figure.
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Griffin, a local elected official from New Mexico who met with Trump on several occasions, was convicted of trespassing and sentenced to 14 days in jail after he jumped a stone wall and recorded himself on the Capitol’s steps.
Before his initial criminal trial, Griffin talked of plans to ride to the courthouse on a horse—as a sign of respect for the court, of course.
In the opinion rejecting Griffin’s appeal of his conviction, DC Circuit Judge Nina Pillard wrote that knowingly entering a restricted area, even if the trespasser doesn’t know why the area was restricted, was a violation of the statute in question.
“The basis of the Secret Service’s authority to prevent access to designated areas for the safety of its protectees… need not be in the mind of the trespasser,” she ruled.
The lone dissenting vote in the DC appeals court’s 2-1 ruling was Judge Greg Katsas, a Trump appointee, who argued that prosecutors should have had to prove that Griffin knew how serious the protected area was in order to convict him.
“Needless to say, a trespass that threatens the life or safety of the President or Vice President is substantially more culpable than a simple trespass consisting of nothing more than knowingly entering an area ‘posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted,’” he wrote.
The two assenting judges were appointed by Democratic presidents.
Despite the loss, Griffin could still appeal the case to the conservative-heavy Supreme Court, which has previously limited the extent to which prosecutors could charge Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
Griffin already tried to appeal to the country’s highest court in a separate case, as he argued that he was unjustly ousted from his county commissioner position, but the Supreme Court declined to hear his case.
