Federal appeals court upholds Jan. 6 conviction of Cowboys for Trump founder

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday upheld the conviction of Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin 2-1. 

Griffin crossed into a restricted section of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, arguing he could not have “knowingly entered” without knowing the area was blocked off to protect Vice President Mike Pence.

Griffin was convicted of two misdemeanors, including trespassing, and sentenced to two weeks in jail as well as one year of supervised release.

“A contrary interpretation would impair the Secret Service’s ability to protect its charges,” Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote in the majority opinion. “It would require Secret Service agents preventing members of the public from encroaching on a temporary security zone to confirm that each intruder knows that a person under Secret Service protection is or is expected to be there. Neither the text nor the context of the statute supports that reading.”