Oct. 22 (UPI) — A divided federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., upheld a trespassing charge and conviction Tuesday against Jan. 6 defendant Couy Griffin, despite his argument that he “did not know” he had breached a Secret Service-protected perimeter.
The three-judge panel, which had one dissenter, upheld the charge that prosecutors have leveled against more than 1,400 people who broke through barriers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The panel rejected Griffin’s claim that the rioters were unaware Secret Service was protecting former Vice President Mike Pence .
“The government was not required to prove that Griffin was aware that the vice president’s presence was the reason the grounds remained restricted,” D.C. Circuit Judge Nina Pillard wrote in Tuesday’s majority opinion.
“A person trespassing on grounds he knows are restricted, where he knows he lacks permission to be, may be convicted of a federal misdemeanor trespass … even if he does not know that a Secret Service protectee is within,” Pillard, an Obama appointee, added…