Otero County Commissioner and Cowboys for Trump leader Couy Griffin was sentenced by Federal Court Judge Trevor McFadden to 14 days on one charge of illegally being in a restricted building or grounds. Griffin will receive credit for time served which was more than 14 days. The Dept. of Justice was seeking just 90 days.
Griffin is still facing a $30,000 fine for the misdemeanor charge.
This isn’t the last legal battle for Griffin today: at 4 pm, the Otero County Commissioners are scheduled to meet (Griffin will be phoning in) to decide whether or not to certify the 2022 Primary Election results, which they have refused to do. The state Supreme Court has ordered that the commission must certify the primary results or be held in contempt of court. Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver has already referred the commission to the Attorney General for possible criminal charges for withholding their certification. The deadline to certify is midnight.
In a press release, Commissioner Vicky Marquardt said that her opposition to verifying the results are due to “irregularities that occurred in the June primaries where two commission nominees were separated by only 11 votes.”
If the commission refuses to certify the results, they face possible criminal prosecution, as violating state election code is a fourth-degree felony. It could also result in all three commissioners being removed from office. If the commissioners were to be removed from office, the governor would have discretion on appointing their replacements.