Trespassing charge applied to Capitol riot defendants upheld

A US appeals court on Oct 22 upheld the use of a criminal trespassing charge against nearly all the 1,500 defendants accused of taking part in the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, rejecting an attempt to further restrict the charges available to prosecutors.

In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected an appeal by defendant Couy Griffin to toss out his conviction on a misdemeanour charge that bars unauthorised people from entering restricted areas protected by the US Secret Service.

Griffin argued that federal prosecutors must prove that he knew that then Vice-President Mike Pence was at the Capitol on the day of the riot, creating the need for Secret Service protection. Mr Pence presided over the congressional certification of the 2020 election results at the Capitol that day.