An US judge on Wednesday sentenced Ryan Routh to life in prison after he was accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump, less than two months before the national elections in 2024.
Routh hid in the bushes of a Florida golf course with a semi-automatic rifle, as he attempted to kill the President, Reuters reported. Secret Service agents spotted him hiding in bushes, about a few hundred yards from where President Trump was golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on September 15, 2024. Although Routh fled the scene, he left behind an assault-style rifle. He was later arrested.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon handed down the sentence to him in Fort Pierce, Florida.
“It’s clear to me that you engaged in a premeditated, calculated plot to take a human life,” Cannon said.
The 59-year-old accused, Routh was convicted by a jury of five criminal counts in September 2025 that included the attempted assassination after serving as his own defense lawyer at trial, despite lacking any formal legal training.
During the hearing, the prosecutor said that Routh’s crimes were aimed at “upending American democracy” as he urged Cannon to send a message that political violence is unacceptable in the nation.
Donald Trump took to his Truth Social handle to hail the verdict. “This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him,” he wrote.
What did Routh say?
Delivering a blazing address at the hearing, Routh did not touch on any facts of the case but focused on foreign wars and his desire to be exchanged with political prisoners abroad.
While prosecutors had recommended a life sentence, Routh had asked the judge, who was a Trump appointee, to impose a 27-year term.
In his remarks, Routh called himself a failure and said that his sentence was “totally unimportant” and lamented that “sadly, execution is not an option.”
Reading from his prepared notes, Routh said, “I have given every drop of who I am every day for the betterment of my community and this nation.”
After the jury read the verdict, he appeared to try to stab himself with a pen multiple times and had to be restrained by marshals. His daughter protested against the sentence in court, claiming that her father had not hurt anyone and that she would get him out of prison.
Routh’s lawyer noted that although he was a troubled and complex person, he had a “very good core” and cared deeply about the well-being of others and that he plans to appeal his conviction and sentence.
Not the first assassination attempt on Trump
Routh’s assassination attempt came nearly two months after a gunman fired at Trump, which grazed his ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania’s Butler.
The two assassination attempts could not stop the Republican supremo to regain his presidency after being defeated four years earlier by Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump, who survived both attempts, rather flipped them into campaign issues, saying that the US Justice Department under Biden could not be trusted with investigations.