Would-be assassin guilty in plot to kill Trump at Florida golf club

Fort Pierce, Florida: The man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at a Florida golf course last year tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen shortly after being found guilty of all counts on Tuesday.

Officers quickly swarmed him and dragged him out of the courthouse.

Ryan Routh will be sentenced in December. He faces life in prison.Credit: LinkedIn

The jury of five men and seven women found Ryan Routh guilty on all counts that he was facing after two hours of deliberation.

The jurors were on their way out of the courtroom after the verdict was announced when Routh grabbed a pen off a desk and tried to stab himself in the neck.

The pen was a flexible pen designed to prevent people in custody from using it as a weapon, so he did not puncture his skin or otherwise hurt himself, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person could not publicly disclose specific details of the incident and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

As marshals were dragging him from the courtroom, Routh’s daughter Sara Routh began screaming, “Dad I love you, don’t do anything. I’ll get you out. He didn’t hurt anybody.”

She continued screaming as her father was taken from the courtroom, saying the case against him was rigged. She went outside the courthouse, where she and her brother Adam Routh waited by a guard gate for their father to be driven away.

Back inside the courtroom, Routh was brought back before the judge. He was no longer wearing a jacket and tie, and was shackled. There were no signs of blood on his shirt. The judge announced Routh would be sentenced on December 18. He faces life in prison.

The standby defence attorneys for Routh – who defended himself in court – did not have a comment following the verdict.

Routh had been charged with attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

This courtroom sketch shows Judge Aileen Cannon listening to Routh during his trial on Tuesday.Credit: AP

Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the Republican played golf on September 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club, no far from his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Routh told jurors in his closing argument that he didn’t intend to kill anyone that day.

“It’s hard for me to believe that a crime occurred if the trigger was never pulled,” Routh said.

He pointed out that he could see Trump as he was on the path toward the sixth-hole green at the golf course and noted that he also could have shot a Secret Service agent who confronted him if he had intended to harm anyone.

Investigators at the Trump International Golf Club after the assassination attempt in September 2024.Credit: AP

Routh, 59, exercised his constitutional right not to testify in his own defence. He rested his case Monday morning after questioning just three witnesses – a firearms expert and two characters witnesses – for a total of about three hours. In contrast, prosecutors spent seven days questioning 38 witnesses.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that the guilty verdict “illustrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to punishing those who engage in political violence”.

“This attempted assassination was not only an attack on our President, but an affront to our very nation,” Bondi said.

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US District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to represent himself following two hearings in July. The US Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have a right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by an attorney.

Routh’s former defence attorneys have served as standby counsel since he took over his own defence and have been present during trial the past two weeks.

Recounting what happened at the Trump International Golf Club at the time, a Secret Service agent testified earlier in the trial that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot, the agent said.

Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who testified that he saw a person fleeing the area after hearing gunshots. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witness said he confirmed it was the person he had seen.

Just nine weeks earlier, Trump had survived an attempt on his life while campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. That gunman had fired eight shots, with one bullet grazing Trump’s ear. The gunman was then fatally shot by a Secret Service counter sniper.

Routh during his arrest in 2024. Credit: AP

Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary leader, Routh spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous and sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world, witnesses have told The Associated Press.

In the early days of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he was arrested in 2002 for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 25-centimeter fuse, police said.

In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa tubs. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence.

Besides the federal charges, Routh also has pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.

AP

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