Judge declines to release New Mexico official charged in Capitol riot

A federal magistrate judge in Washington has ordered that a New Mexico county commissioner charged for breaching security lines at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot be detained pending trial. Lawyers for Couy Griffin, 47, urged that he be allowed to return home, but Judge Zia Faruqui sided with prosecutors who said the Cowboys for Trump founder was a flight risk. During a videoconference hearing Monday afternoon, Faruqui said Griffin's disdain for the government was so intense that he was unlikely to obey the court's orders. "He demonstrated that he believes that violence is on the table," the magistrate said. "His statements demonstrate to me a lack of faith and belief in the legitimacy of this government. ... I don’t believe that he will believe that those orders are to be respected or followed."Griffin was arrested near a security checkpoint in Washington on Jan. 17. He faces one misdemeanor count of entering a Secret Service-restricted area without permission during the riot earlier in the month. A lawyer for Griffin said he had "caveated" his statement about Democrats and that all of Griffin's statements were within First Amendment standards, but the judge sounded doubtful. Griffin attorney Nicholas Smith argued that his client's concerns with the executive branch and legislative branch did not extend to the courts. "Nothing in the record suggests he doesn't have respect for the judiciary," Smith said. However, the judge said he saw no reason to make such a distinction. An initial hearing for Griffin held on Jan. 21 was aborted after he reportedly refused to talk to the judge on a telephone and refused to take a Covid-19 test that would allow him to go to an area of the D.C. jail where prisoners join video court hearings. Smith said the episode was a misunderstanding and his client thought guards were trying to get him to speak to a lawyer seeking to represent him. Griffin has since taken a coronavirus test and been placed in the general population, the defense attorney said. Griffin, a former street preacher and cowboy performer at Paris Disneyland, is one of the most lightly charged defendants in federal court cases stemming from the Capitol riot. He faces a maximum sentence on the current charge of up to a year in prison. Prosecutors have not alleged that he entered the Capitol, but solely that he went through police lines and took up a position on the Capitol steps during the melee...MORE