Ryan Routh is found guilty of trying to assassinate Trump at Florida golf course

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — After a two-week trial, a jury took just two hours Tuesday to convict Ryan Routh of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on a Florida golf course last year, a plot that was undone when a Secret Service agent spotted Routh and fired a shot that sent him running.

Chaos ensued in the courtroom shortly after Routh was found guilty on all counts by a federal jury of seven women and five men. Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen and officers quickly dragged him out.

As he was removed, Routh’s daughter, Sara Routh, screamed: “Dad, I love you, don’t do anything. I’ll get you out. He didn’t hurt anybody.” She was escorted from the courtroom and later waited outside with her brother, Adam Routh.

The pen Routh used was flexible, a design to prevent people in custody from using it as a weapon, according to a person familiar with the matter who could not publicly disclose details and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Routh did not puncture his skin or otherwise hurt himself, the person said.

After order was restored, Routh was brought before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. He was shackled and no longer in the jacket and tie he wore while representing himself at the trial.

Cannon announced Routh will be sentenced on Dec. 18 at 9:30 a.m. He faces life in prison. Routh’s standby defense attorneys did not comment after the verdict.

Following the verdict, Trump told reporters in New York that the case was “really well-handled.”

“It’s very important. You can’t let things like that happen. Nothing to do with me, but a president — or even a person, you can’t allow that to happen,” Trump said. “And so justice was served. But I very much appreciate the judge and jury and everybody on that.”

Assassination attempt was planned

Prosecutors said Routh, 59, spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the then-Republican presidential candidate played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.

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.

At Routh’s trial, Robert Fercano, who was a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course, 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 run away without firing a shot.

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 confirmed it was the person he had seen.

Routh was 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.

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 6th-hole green and noted that he also could have shot a Secret Service agent if he had intended to harm anyone.

Routh elected to represent himself

Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to represent himself following two hearings in July. The U.S. 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 defense attorneys served as standby counsel since he took over his own defense and were present during trial.

Routh exercised his constitutional right not to testify in his own defense. 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.

What’s known of Routh’s background

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.

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 10-inch (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.

Routh still faces state charges of terrorism and attempted murder for the plot against Trump.

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Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in New York and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

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David Fischer, The Associated Press