"In September 2024, a Secret Service agent saw a man he later identified as Routh holding a semi-automatic rifle hidden in the tree line at Trump International in West Palm Beach. The agent accosted and then fired on Routh, who fled in his car and was arrested a short time later. In a two-and-a-half-week-long trial last fall, prosecutors spent seven days detailing Routh's activities in the weeks before the planned sniper attack."
"They said Routh, a former roofing contractor, traveled from North Carolina to West Palm Beach. Using cell phone data and license plate readers, investigators tracked his movements as he scouted locations while living in his vehicle at a truck stop. Routh's defense case, by contrast, took just a few hours. In the months before the trial, he had a series of disagreements with his federal public defenders, and Judge Cannon allowed him to represent himself in court."
"He told the jury that he was a peaceful and non-violent person who lacked the "cold heart" needed to kill someone. It took the jury two hours to find him guilty on all charges. In court, when the verdict was read, Routh attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen before being subdued by federal marshals."
Ryan Routh was convicted of planning to assassinate Donald Trump while Trump was golfing at his West Palm Beach club. Prosecutors say Routh traveled from North Carolina, lived in his vehicle at a truck stop, and scouted locations while investigators tracked him using cell-phone data and license-plate readers. In September 2024 a Secret Service agent identified Routh holding a semi-automatic rifle in the tree line at Trump International, fired on him, and Routh fled and was arrested shortly after. Routh represented himself, presented three witnesses, and offered a disjointed defense. The jury convicted him on all counts in two hours and prosecutors are seeking a life sentence.
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