Ryan Wesley Routh, 59, has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump while he was golfing in West Palm Beach in the fall of 2024.
U.S. Secret Service agents intervened after spotting a rifle barrel protruding from bushes near the course. An agent fired at Routh, who fled but was arrested shortly afterward. Investigators later recovered a scoped semi-automatic rifle with an extended magazine at the hiding spot, along with a list of locations where Trump was expected to appear and a note describing the plot as an “assassination attempt.”
In her sentencing memorandum, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon wrote that Routh’s actions “undeniably warrant a life sentence,” citing months of planning, willingness to kill anyone in the way, and a lack of remorse.
Routh represented himself at trial after pleading not guilty and repeatedly disrupted proceedings. Following the guilty verdict, he attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen before being removed from the courtroom by U.S. marshals. His attorney, Martin Ross, said the defense plans to appeal.
Prosecutors said the evidence showed how close Routh came to carrying out the attack.
The Florida incident marked the second attempt on Trump’s life in 2024, after a separate shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July that left one person dead and several wounded, including Trump.
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