Not Couy Griffin, a New Mexico county commissioner and founder of Cowboys for Trump.. The dismissed charge against Griffin carried a potential punishment of up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. More: Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin questions Capitol . Federal prosecutors had pointed out that the secretary of state in New Mexico has asked for a criminal investigation into Griffins actions in refusing to certify the primary election there. The judge in the case, District Judge Francis J. Mathew, was unsparing in ruling that Griffin is disqualified from office. Griffin was previously convicted in federal court of a misdemeanor for entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, without going inside the building. Griffin is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17. Updated: 6:15 PM EDT June 17, 2022. Griffin was present at the Capitol during the riot but did not enter the building itself. They started chanting, Pray for Trump, Struck replied. While still a county commissioner, Griffin joined with Republican colleagues in refusing to certify results of the June 2022 primary election based on distrust of the voting systems used to tally the vote, even though the countys election official said there were no problems. There is an uncomfortable irony when, in the aftermath of that attack, we purport to defend democracy by using the judicial process to deprive voters of their choice of leader. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider The case against Griffin is unlike most of the Capitol riot prosecutions. Griffin said he and fellow commissioners don't see the process as trustworthy. Griffin has been investigated by the state for corruption and is currently facing a recall effort, with around one-third of the required recall petition signatures having been gathered as of last week. He shouldn't be punished for showing his pride in his country, Miller said. His lawyer, David Smith, requested two months probation. We have not had to escalate the process for any other political committee, Vigil said. Reffitt's trial presented a test for the Justice Department as it undertakes an investigation it has called "unprecedented," and the conviction marked a significant victory in the nearly 800 prosecutions related to the January 6 attack. According to a court document, Griffin tweeted after the trial that the media has tried to make me look like the biggest loser the last couple days. One was presented by a team of lawyers who showed video clips of Jan. 6, 2021, used testimony from a number of witnesses, and played Griffin's on-the-record statements before and after the event. A CNN reporter was left flabbergasted when a man charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol on January 6 said that he was not convinced about the veracity of two of the insurrection's fatalities. A judge said Couy Griffin's stated remorse for January 6 conflicted with incendiary public comments. , Southern Poverty Law Center 'hate' list suffers legal setback, Secret Service blocks Muslim mayor from White House Eid-al-Fitr celebration, Ryan Webb, Delaware County, Indiana, councilman, mocks left by coming out as lesbian woman of color, Seven bodies found in Henryetta, Oklahoma, during search for two missing teens, U.S. government destroying the dollars value through inflation, Bidens idea of freedom should frighten every liberty-loving American. "I'm . As a strategic matter, Im skeptical that disqualification under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is the best way or even a productive way to fight back against anti-democratic forces across the country, Hemel said. Griffins lawyer said he doesnt plan to call any defense witnesses. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Most of these cases fizzled quickly, and none have succeeded. Pence remained in the loading dock location for four to five hours and never left the security perimeter before the joint session of Congress resumed on the night of Jan. 6, Hawa testified. The ruling declared the Jan. 6 assault an insurrection and ordered Mr. Griffin removed from office. The secretary of states office initially prevailed in a June 2020 arbitration decision that ordered Cowboys for Trump to register as a political committee, file expenditure and contribution reports and pay a fine of $7,800. . After his sentencing, Griffin implored reporters to follow up on discredited conspiracy theories about the Capitol doors mysteriously opening on Jan. 6, an Arizona man falsely accused of being an FBI agitator in the crowd, and the possibility that voting machines in New Mexico might be electronically hacked. Last year, he became the first elected official to be banished from elected office in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol building, which disrupted Congress as it was trying to certify President Joe Bidens 2020 election victory. Miller, a public defender, said Griffin's intention was to speak boldly and openly about common sense convictions and national pride without yielding to government control through the regulation of nonprofit groups. "I'm really hoping that the judge will dismiss the charges," Griffin told the Albuquerque Journal in June. He said he would participate in an Otero County commission meeting later Friday by phone to refuse to certify a recent election until the voting machines are inspected. Mr. Griffin was sentenced in June to 14 days in prison. Prosecutors didnt give any opening statements. Cowboys for Trump cofounder Couy Griffin has been found not guilty of a misdemeanor charge of failing to register a political group and provide financial disclosures at a trial in southern New Mexico. Griffin's defense lawyers plan to argue that, because Pence was rushed away amid the mayhem of January 6, the Capitol grounds were no longer a restricted, Secret Service-protected area by the time he was there. What I was a part of was a peaceful protest where I joined shoulder-to-shoulder with like-minded patriots who have concerns about election integrity. This just went from being theoretical to being something that is legally recognized and legally possible, said Noah Bookbinder, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog organization that filed suit against Mr. Griffin on behalf of a group of New Mexico residents. They said Griffin was a politician in his own right who clearly advocated for Trump while the president was a candidate for reelection, and that Griffin also promoted political positions on border enforcement, gun rights, abortion and more. Mr. Griffin represented himself in the 14th Amendment case. A Trump-appointed judge disagreed with Griffin's explanation while rejecting a legal argument that he was being "selectively charged" for his political beliefs in July. This is a battle and a war we cannot lose, Mr. Griffin said. Some have sought to wield that seldom-invoked provision against members of Congress, without success, and even floated using it against Trump. He has occasionally surfaced in national news for his violent rhetoric and his efforts to impugn the election results in his home state as recently as this summer.). The Associated Press reported the confidential plea agre Sicknick died the day after the riots from a stroke. It would be helpful if they would take this opportunity to rule really for the first time what Section 3 means.. Defense attorney Jonathan Miller portrayed Griffin as just a guy who rides a horse" and tried to do the right thing by registering Cowboys for Trump as a for-profit corporation and notifying donors that they cannot deduct donations from taxes. "To mount a meaningful defense Griffin must be allowed to test the veracity of the Government's contention that Vice President Pence was on the Capitol grounds during the relevant period," McFadden ruled. Instead, he showed up Monday as a passenger in a pickup truck that had a horse trailer on the back. In March, Judge Trevor N. McFadden, presiding at a bench trial in Federal District Court in Washington, found Mr. Griffin guilty of one misdemeanor count of illegally entering a restricted area at the Capitol and acquitted him of another that accused him of disorderly conduct. McFadden dismissed that claim as "preposterous.". There, Mr. Griffin spent more than an hour addressing the mob, at times speaking through a bullhorn. The strikes left 34 people injured, including three children, and caused widespread damage. He later said that he had been attempting to lead them in prayer. This story has been shared 264,224 times. Griffin's lawyers say that unlike the other protesters, he did not enter the Capitol, but instead stood on the steps of the building urging on others with a bullhorn, Buzzfeed News reported. Congress used the 14th Amendment to disqualify Socialist Rep. Victor Berger in 1919, but not the insurrection provision specifically, and this was not a court decision. Prosecutors plan to call a Secret Service inspector and Capitol police inspector later on Monday. In a challenge to the candidacy of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, a judge also said the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol qualified as an insurrection but said that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Ms. Greene engaged in it. Regardless, they said the law only requires that Pence was at the complex or "would be" returning to prove that Griffin unlawfully entered a Secret Service-protected area. Sign up for notifications from Insider! In court papers, federal prosecutors said Griffin bragged about his involvement in the Capitol attack at a county commission meeting. according to the Congressional Research Service, challenge to the candidacy of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, an Arizona man who was falsely pegged as an undercover F.B.I. After already serving 20 days in jail, Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin avoided additional prison time Friday as he was sentenced for his participation in the pro-Trump mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The sentencing effectively ruled out any further prison time for Griffin barring a violation of his probation in connection with his involvement in the January 6 attack. But the judge greenlighted a request from Griffin's defense lawyers to question a Secret Service agent about a lingering question around the events of January 6: the location of then-Vice President Mike Pence. WASHINGTON A judge in New Mexico on Tuesday ordered a county commissioner convicted of participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol removed from office under the 14th Amendment, making him the first public official in more than a century to be barred from serving under a constitutional ban on insurrectionists holding office. McFadden is so far the only judge on the Washington, DC, federal trial court who has acquitted a January 6 defendant on all charges. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? as well as other partner offers and accept our. While the decision of a state court isnt binding elsewhere, New York Universitys Daniel Hemel noted, it could embolden similar efforts to disqualify people from office with more direct ties to the insurrection up to and including Trump. A Trump appointee, McFadden handed down the verdict because Griffin elected for a so-called bench trial, in which a judge rather than a jury reviews evidence and determines guilt or innocence. Until Tuesday, none had succeeded. If this ruling stands up on appeal, it sets a significant precedent for the next election cycle, said Gerard Magliocca, a constitutional scholar at Indiana University who has studied Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin arrives at the Federal Court House in Washington, Monday, March 21, 2022. In a segment on Anderson Cooper 360, Drew Griffin was recounting his interview with the founder of Cowboys for Trump, Cuoy Griffin, who is also a New Mexico county commissioner. On Jan. 6, Mr. Griffin and a videographer clambered over barricades at the Capitol and made their way onto the inauguration stage in front of the building. Couy Griffin, a 48-year-old Republican elected official from Alamogordo, N.M., and founder of a pro-Donald Trump grass-roots group, had challenged U.S. prosecutors to prove Pence's whereabouts. Brent Stirton/Getty. Couy Griffin had returned to DC and was taken into custody just blocks away from the Capitol after Capitol Police officers ran his license plate and noticed that he had an outstanding warrant. Last year, he became the first elected official to be banished from elected office in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol building that disrupted Congress as it was trying to certify President Joe Bidens 2020 election victory. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Prosecutors played video clips that showed Griffin moving through the mob that formed outside the Capitol, where police used pepper spray to quell rioters. In a written closing statement in court, he had argued that he had been at the Capitol to lobby vice president Mike Pence to not certify the election results, and that, In no way does that pertain to nor support insurrection/rebellion, reported the Albuquerque Journal. Hemel added: I wouldnt want Couy Griffin to be my county commissioner, or anyones county commissioner, but I think defenders of democracy need to think long and hard about whether judicial disqualification is the wisest approach.. For the first time since the War of 1812, the U.S. Capitol was breached. He is among only three riot defendants who have asked for a bench trial, which means a judge will decide his case without a jury. "Pretty soon, it was like a huge, amazing Trump rally," Griffin said. A federal judge on Tuesday convicted Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin of trespassing in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, handing the Justice Department its second . 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