U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon pronounced Ryan Routh’s fate in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that erupted into chaos in September when he tried to stab himself shortly after jurors found him guilty on all counts.
“American democracy does not work when individuals take it into their own hands to eliminate candidates. That’s what this individual tried to do” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley told the judge.
Routh’s new defense attorney, Martin L. Roth, argued that “at the moment of truth, he chose not to pull the trigger."
The judge pushed back, noting Routh’s history of arrests, to which Roth said, “He’s a complex person I’ll give the court that, but he has a very good core.”
Routh then read from a rambling, 20-page statement. Cannon broke in and said none of what he was saying was relevant, and gave him five more minutes to talk.
“I did everything I could and lived a good life,” Routh said, before the judge cut him off.
“Your plot to kill was deliberate and evil,” she said. “You are not a peaceful man. You are not a good man.”
She then issued his sentence: Life without parole, plus 7 years on a gun charge. His sentences for his other three crimes will run concurrently.
Routh was convicted of trying to assassinate a major presidential candidate, using a firearm in furtherance of a crime, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm as a felon and using a gun with a defaced serial number. “Routh remains unrepentant for his crimes, never apologized for the lives he put at risk, and his life demonstrates near-total disregard for law,” the prosecutors' sentencing memo said.
Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the Republican presidential candidate played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.
