Ryan Routh, 59, appeared in federal court in Fort Pierce, southeast Florida, this morning to hear his sentence
A United States court condemned this Wednesday (4) to life imprisonment the man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on his Florida golf course in 2024, two months before the presidential election won by the Republican.
Ryan Routh, 59, appeared in federal court in Fort Pierce, southeast Florida, this morning to hear his sentence.
In September, a jury had found him guilty of five countsincluding the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate. Upon hearing the verdict, the The accused then tried to stab himself with a pen.but was prevented by security agents.
Judge Aileen Cannon granted the prosecutor’s request this Wednesday and imposed the maximum possible sentence on Routh “to protect people from future crimes committed by him”.
Routh was also found guilty of illegal possession of a weapon due to his criminal record, possession of a weapon with the serial number scratched off, possession of a firearm for the purpose of committing a violent crime and assault on a federal agent.
a United States Secret Service agent — responsible for protecting the country’s top political authorities — saw the barrel of a rifle appearing among bushes on the West Palm Beach golf course, where Trump was playing a round.
The officer opened fire and Routh, who fled in a vehicle, was detained shortly after by police.
Police found a loaded semi-automatic rifle at the scene, equipped with a telescopic sight and a magazine with additional ammunition.
“An empty shell”
After remaining silent, with a frown on his face and without showing any apparent emotion during the hearing, Routh took the floor. He put on thick black glasses and began reading a 20-page speech he had prepared.
“My sentence is totally insignificant. Before you there is nothing; I am nothing more than an empty shell”, he declared, before defining himself as a good person, hardworking and dedicated to his country.
Judge Cannon interrupted him several times and asked him to shorten a speech that he considered irrelevant to the case. Routh went so far as to say, for example, that he would exchange his life for that of Palestinian victims of the conflict with Israel.
The convict once again demonstrated his fixation with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where he had traveled to join foreign volunteers, and lamented the world’s passivity in the face of this war.
In front of him, prosecutor John Shipley tried to dismantle the image of a good citizen defended by Routh and his lawyer, Martin Roth.
“He attempted to carry out a cold-blooded massacre” with the “goal of subverting American democracy” by killing the then Republican candidate and current president, Donald Trump, Shipley said.
“I’m so sorry I failed you.”
During the trial, a witness testified that Routh had left a box at his residence that included a handwritten letter with the message: “Dear World. This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I am so sorry that I failed you.”
This was the second attack against the Republican candidate, who ended up winning the 2024 presidential elections.
Trump had narrowly escaped an attack on July 13, 2024, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania (northeast). On that occasion, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to shoot several times before being shot down by the Secret Service.
Trump was hit in the ear. The images of him with his bloody face and raised fist went around the world, and the episode was considered a key moment in the campaign that brought him back to the White House.
*With information from AFP
