Ryan Routh pleads not guilty to attempted assassination of Donald Trump
The shooter faces five counts for his intent to shoot the Republican candidate from the fence of his golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Ryan Wesley Routh during a rally in support of Ukraine, file image.
The man accused of trying to shoot Donald Trump, Ryan Routh, pleaded not guilty Monday to attempting to assassinate the presidential candidate around the former president's golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla.
His attorney, Kristy Militello, announced that her client pleaded not guilty to all five charges he faces during a hearing that lasted just minutes in federal court in West Palm Beach.
Routh, 58, was arrested on Sept. 15, shortly after he was found hiding in brush near the fence of a golf course where former President Trump was playing, armed with an AK-47-style rifle.
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A grand jury indicted him Tuesday in Miami on charges of attempted murder of a presidential candidate, possession of a firearm to commit a violent felony and assault on a federal officer.
This is a considerable increase in the charges against him, as the prosecution had originally only charged him with two lesser charges: unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon with an altered serial number. Routh now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
According to the FBI, the defendant traveled to Florida on Aug. 14 and remained there until his arrest. During that period, his cell phone connected several times to cell phone towers located near Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach and his Mar-a-Lago residence nearby.
Before a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a rifle belonging to Routh peeking out from between some hedges. Routh had spent nearly 12 hours hiding in the vicinity of the golf course and used the hiding places the paparazzi have set up to photograph Trump.
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