Ryan Routh gets life in prison for Trump assassination attempt in 2024
The defendant was caught armed at a golf course of the then-Republican candidate two months before the election. According to the prosecution, he spent weeks planning an attack that was ultimately foiled by the Secret Service.
Routh in Kiev
Ryan Routh was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in September 2024. The 59-year-old Floridian was convicted of five charges in September, including attempted murder of a presidential candidate.
The incident occurred two months before the presidential election, while Trump was at his golf course in Florida. Routh was detected by a Secret Service agent while concealed with a gun in the vicinity. He escaped when the agent fired in his direction, but was later captured in the middle of the street.
The prosecution claimed at trial that the defendant had been preparing the attack for weeks and that in September 2024 he spent about 12 hours staking out Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach. According to the indictment, he even inserted the barrel of a rifle through the perimeter of the course on the sixth hole.
During the trial, a prosecution witness testified that the Florida man left a box at his home with a note that read, "Dear World. This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you."
With her ruling, Judge Aileen Cannon heeded the prosecution's request to give Routh the maximum possible punishment. In addition to the plot to kill Trump, the magistrate found him guilty of a number of crimes: unlawful possession of a weapon (due to his criminal record), possession of a weapon with the serial number obliterated, possession of a firearm for the purpose of committing a violent felony, and assault on a federal officer.
Politics
DOJ seeks life in prison for Ryan Routh, the man who attempted to assassinate Trump while playing golf in Florida
Luis Francisco Orozco
After remaining silent, frowning and showing no apparent emotion during the hearing, Routh took the floor, according to AFP. He donned thick black glasses and began reading a 20-page speech he had prepared.
He declared his sentence was insignificant, before defining himself as a good person, hardworking and devoted to his country. Routh had pleaded not guilty at the beginning of the trial.
Judge Cannon interrupted him several times and asked him to shorten a speech she considered irrelevant to the case. Routh went so far as to say, for example, that he would trade his life for the lives of Palestinian victims in the conflict with Israel.
The convicted man again showed his fixation on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where he had traveled to join foreign volunteers, and lamented the world's passivity in the face of that war.
Facing him, prosecutor John Shipley set out to dismantle the image of a good citizen championed by Routh and his lawyer, Martin Roth.
Shipley said he had attempted to carry out a murder with the goal of subverting American democracy by killing then-Republican candidate and current president, Donald Trump.
The other assassination attempt on Trump in 2024
Just two months earlier, in Butler, Pennsylvania, a bullet grazed Trump's ear while he was speaking at a rally. Two men were also wounded during the attack and Corey Comperatore, a father of two, was killed.
The shooter was Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20. He was gunned down at the scene by a Secret Service sniper. Since then, details about the planning and execution of the shooting have been emerging.
"The investigation, conducted by over 480 FBI employees, revealed Crooks had limited online and in-person interactions, planned and conducted the attack alone, and did not leak or share his intent to engage in the attack with anyone," FBI Director Kash Patel said in November.
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