FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — The person who tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a Florida golf course final yr tried to stab himself within the neck with a pen shortly after being discovered responsible of all counts on Tuesday.
Officers shortly swarmed him and dragged him out of the courtroom.
The jury of 5 males and 7 ladies discovered Ryan Routh responsible on all counts that he was dealing with after about two hours of deliberation.
The jurors had been on their means out of the courtroom after the decision was introduced when Routh grabbed a pen off a desk and tried to stab himself within the neck.
As marshals had been dragging him from the courtroom, Routh’s daughter Sara Routh started screaming, “Dad I love you, don’t do anything. I’ll get you out. He didn’t hurt anybody.”
She continued screaming as her father was taken from the courtroom, saying the case towards him was rigged. She went exterior the courthouse, the place she waited by a guard gate for her father to be pushed away.
Again contained in the courtroom, Routh was introduced again earlier than the decide. He was not carrying a jacket and tie, and was shackled. There have been no indicators of blood on his shirt. The decide introduced Routh will probably be sentenced on Dec. 18 at 9:30 a.m. He faces life in jail.
The standby protection attorneys for Routh didn’t have a remark following the decision.
Routh had been charged with trying to assassinate a significant presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of against the law of violence, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial quantity. He had pleaded not responsible to the costs and defended himself in court docket.
Martin County Sheriffís Workplace by way of AP
Prosecutors mentioned Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump earlier than aiming a rifle by way of shrubbery because the Republican performed golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Seaside nation membership.
Routh instructed jurors in his closing argument that he didn’t intend to kill anybody that day.
“It’s hard for me to believe that a crime occurred if the trigger was never pulled,” Routh mentioned. He identified that he may see Trump as he was on the trail towards the sixth-hole inexperienced on the golf course and famous that he additionally may have shot a Secret Service agent who confronted him if he had meant to hurt anybody.
Routh, 59, exercised his constitutional proper to not testify in his personal protection. He rested his case Monday morning after questioning simply three witnesses — a firearms skilled and two characters witnesses — for a complete of about three hours. In distinction, prosecutors spent seven days questioning 38 witnesses.
Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi mentioned in a publish on X that the responsible 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 mentioned.
“This verdict sends a clear message. An attempt to assassinate a presidential candidate is an attack on our Republic and on the rights of every citizen,” Deputy Legal professional Normal Todd Blanche mentioned in a press release. “The Department of Justice will relentlessly pursue those who try to silence political voices, and no enemy, foreign or domestic, will ever silence the will of the American people.”
U.S. District Choose Aileen Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to symbolize himself following two hearings in July. The U.S. Supreme Courtroom has held that prison defendants have a proper to symbolize themselves in court docket proceedings, so long as they will present a decide they’re competent to waive their proper to be defended by an lawyer. Routh’s former protection attorneys have served as standby counsel since he took over his personal protection and have been current throughout trial the previous two weeks.
Recounting what occurred on the golf course, a Secret Service agent testified earlier within the trial that he noticed Routh earlier than Trump got here into view. Routh aimed his rifle on the agent, who opened fireplace, inflicting Routh to drop his weapon and flee with out firing a shot, the agent mentioned.
Legislation enforcement obtained assist from a witness who testified that he noticed an individual fleeing the realm after listening to gunshots. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a close-by interstate the place Routh was arrested, and the witness mentioned he confirmed it was the individual he had seen.
Simply 9 weeks earlier, Trump had survived an try on his life whereas campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. That gunman had fired eight pictures, with one bullet grazing Trump’s ear. The gunman was then fatally shot by a Secret Service counter sniper.
Routh was a North Carolina building employee who in recent times had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary chief, Routh spoke out to anybody who would pay attention about his harmful and generally violent plans to insert himself into conflicts world wide, witnesses have instructed The Related Press.
Within the early days of Russia’s warfare in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit troopers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to combat the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he was arrested in 2002 for eluding a visitors cease and barricading himself from officers with a totally automated machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch (25-centimeter) fuse, police mentioned.
In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and located greater than 100 stolen gadgets, from energy instruments and constructing provides to kayaks and spa tubs. In each felony circumstances, judges gave Routh both probation or a suspended sentence.
In addition to the federal prices, Routh additionally has pleaded not responsible to state prices of terrorism and tried homicide.
Comply with David Fischer on the social platform Bluesky: @dwfischer.bsky.social
