After a two-and-a-half-week trial in September, a jury swiftly convicted Routh on five felony charges, including attempted assassination of a leading presidential candidate and assault on a federal officer.
A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced Ryan Routh to life in prison, plus seven years, for attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at Florida golf course in September 2024, Fox News reports.
Prosecutors argued that Routh, 60, should receive a life sentence after a jury last year convicted him on five counts for allegedly plotting “painstakingly to kill President Trump, and [taking] significant steps toward making that happen.”
“Routh’s crimes undeniably warrant a life sentence—he took steps over the course of months to assassinate a major Presidential candidate, demonstrated the will to kill anybody in the way, and has since expressed neither regret nor remorse to his victims,” prosecutors argued in a court filing.
After a two-and-a-half-week trial in September, a jury swiftly convicted Routh on five felony charges, including attempted assassination of a leading presidential candidate and assault on a federal officer.
Prosecutors alleged that Routh had concealed himself in the bushes at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, aiming a military-grade SKS rifle at former President Trump and a Secret Service agent.
Routh represented himself during the trial, arguing that he had no intention of harming Trump or the Secret Service agent and characterising his actions as a form of political protest against the president’s policies.
Following the guilty verdict, court proceedings were briefly disrupted after Routh attempted to injure himself in the presence of the jury, prompting an immediate response from courtroom officials.