Ryan Routh, the man convicted of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump by lying in wait with a semi-automatic rifle just weeks before the 2024 US election, has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Routh, 59, was found guilty by a jury last September on five criminal counts, including attempted assassination, after representing himself during the trial. US District Judge Aileen Cannon handed down the sentence in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Wednesday.
While prosecutors sought a life sentence, Routh, who faced a judge appointed by Trump, requested a 27-year term. In a court filing, prosecutors argued Routh’s actions “undeniably warrant a life sentence”, citing months of meticulous planning, a willingness to kill anyone who interfered, and his apparent lack of regret or remorse.
However, in his own court filing, Routh denied any intent to kill Trump, offering instead to undergo psychological treatment for a personality disorder while incarcerated. He contended that jurors were misled due to his inability to present an adequate legal defence.
Routh, whose recent residences included Hawaii and North Carolina, was also convicted of three illegal firearm possession charges and one count of impeding a federal officer during his arrest.
Secret Service agents discovered Routh concealed in bushes just hundreds of yards from where Trump was golfing at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sep. 15, 2024. Routh fled, abandoning an assault-style rifle, but was subsequently apprehended.
The incident marked the second assassination attempt on Trump within two months. It followed an earlier incident two months prior, when a bullet fired by a gunman grazed Trump’s ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Both events unfolded in the lead-up to the November 2024 election, which saw Trump return to the presidency after his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden four years earlier.
Trump, a Republican, subsequently leveraged these attempted assassinations as a campaign issue, asserting that the US Justice Department under President Biden could not be trusted with such investigations.
Prosecutors detailed how Routh had arrived in South Florida approximately a month before the incident, residing at a truck stop and meticulously tracking Trump’s movements and schedule. Trial evidence revealed Routh carried six mobile phones and employed false identities to obscure his presence. Prosecutors stated he lay concealed in thick bushes for almost 10 hours on the day of the attempt. Investigators at the scene recovered the assault-style rifle, two bags containing body armour-like metal plates, and a video camera aimed at the golf course.
Despite pleading not guilty, Routh dismissed his legal team and chose to represent himself at trial, despite his lack of formal legal training. His rambling opening statement, which delved into subjects such as the origin of the human species and the settlement of the American West, was eventually cut short by Judge Cannon, who cautioned him against making a mockery of the court. Routh’s defence centred on his self-proclaimed nonviolent nature, yet he offered minimal challenge to the extensive evidence presented by numerous law enforcement witnesses.
Prosecutor John Shipley informed jurors that Routh’s plot was “carefully crafted and deadly serious,” adding that without the Secret Service’s intervention “Donald Trump would not be alive.”
Following the jury’s verdict, Routh reportedly attempted to stab himself multiple times with a pen and was restrained by US marshals. His daughter, present in court, reportedly shouted that her father had harmed no one and vowed to secure his release.
Trump praised the verdict on his Truth Social platform, stating: “This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him.”
