Man Who Tried to Shoot Trump at Florida Golf Course Gets Life Term

A man convicted of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in 2024 was sentenced on Wednesday to life imprisonment after a federal prosecutor said his crime was unacceptable “in this country or anywhere”.

 

US District Judge Aileen Cannon pronounced Ryan Routh’s sentence in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that erupted into chaos in September, when he tried to stab himself shortly after jurors found him guilty on all counts.

 

“American democracy does not work when individuals take it into their own hands to eliminate candidates. That’s what this individual tried to do,” Assistant US Attorney John Shipley told the court.

 

Routh’s new defence attorney, Martin L. Roth, argued that “at the moment of truth, he chose not to pull the trigger”.

 

The judge pushed back, noting Routh’s history of arrests, to which Roth replied: “He’s a complex person, I’ll give the court that, but he has a very good core.”

 

Routh then read from a rambling 20-page statement. Judge Cannon interrupted, saying none of what he was saying was relevant, and gave him five more minutes to speak.

 

“I did everything I could and lived a good life,” Routh said, before the judge cut him off.

 

“Your plot to kill was deliberate and evil,” she said. “You are not a peaceful man. You are not a good man.”

She then issued his sentence: life without parole, plus seven years on a gun charge. His sentences for his other three convictions will run concurrently.

 

Routh’s sentencing had initially been scheduled for December, but Judge Cannon agreed to postpone it after he decided to use an attorney during the sentencing phase instead of representing himself, as he had done for most of the trial.

 

Routh was convicted of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, using a firearm in furtherance of a crime, assaulting a federal officer, possession of a firearm by a felon, and using a gun with a defaced serial number.

 

“Routh remains unrepentant for his crimes, never apologised for the lives he put at risk, and his life demonstrates near-total disregard for the law,” prosecutors said in their sentencing memorandum.

 

His defence attorney had asked for a sentence of 20 years, plus the mandatory seven years for the gun conviction.

 

“The defendant is two weeks short of being 60 years old,” Roth wrote in a filing. “A just punishment would impose sufficient but not excessive punishment, and allow the defendant to experience freedom again, rather than dying in prison.”

 

Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the Republican presidential candidate played golf on 15 September 2024 at his West Palm Beach country club.

 

At Routh’s trial, a Secret Service agent assigned to protect Trump testified 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.

In a motion requesting legal representation, Routh offered to trade his life in a prisoner exchange with people unjustly held in other countries, and said an offer still stood for Trump to “take out his frustrations on my face”.

 

“Just a quarter of an inch further back and we all would not have to deal with all of this mess going forwards, but I always fail at everything (par for the course),” Routh wrote.

 

In her decision granting Routh an attorney, Judge Cannon criticised the “disrespectful charade” of the motion, saying it made a mockery of the proceedings. However, the judge — who was nominated by Trump in 2020 — said she wanted to err on the side of legal representation.

 

Cannon had approved Routh’s request last summer to represent himself at trial. The US Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have the right to represent themselves in court proceedings, provided they can demonstrate to a judge that they are competent to waive their right to legal counsel.

 

Routh’s former federal public defenders served as standby counsel and were present throughout the trial.

 

Routh had multiple previous felony convictions, including possession of stolen goods, and maintained a large online footprint demonstrating his hostility towards Trump. In a self-published book, he encouraged Iran to assassinate him and wrote at one point that, as a Trump voter, he bore part of the blame for electing him.

 

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