‘Breaching the restricted area suffices’: Court shuts down ‘Cowboys for Trump’ founder’s Jan. 6 conviction appeal, rejects argument he didn’t know Pence was there

Couy Griffin at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Couy Griffin at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (DOJ court filing).

A federal court of appeals on Tuesday denied a prominent Jan. 6 defendant’s effort to overturn his misdemeanor trespass conviction.

In March 2022, Couy Griffin, the founder of “Cowboys for Trump” and a former New Mexico county commissioner, was convicted on one count of entering a restricted area on the Capitol grounds and acquitted on one count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building. The bench trial was overseen by Donald Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden.

On the day of the riot, Griffin made his way into a restricted area that had been cordoned off and closed to the public in order to protect then-Vice President Mike Pence as he waited to oversee vote tallies.

In determining the defendant’s guilt, the lower court judge said Griffin “certainly knew he shouldn’t be there” and “yet, he remained.”

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