A federal decide on Wednesday is ready to resolve whether or not a person convicted of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on his Florida golf course in September 2024 deserves to spend the rest of his life in a federal jail.
Prosecutors argue that Ryan Wesley Routh, 60, ought to obtain a life sentence after a jury final yr convicted him on five counts for allegedly plotting “painstakingly to kill President Trump, and [taking] important steps towards making that occur.”
“Routh’s crimes undeniably warrant a life sentence—he took steps over the course of months to assassinate a serious Presidential candidate, demonstrated the need to kill anyone in the way in which, and has since expressed neither remorse nor regret to his victims,” prosecutors argued in a court docket submitting.
FILE – On this imaged launched by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Workplace, regulation enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the person suspected within the obvious assassination try of Donald Trump,Sept. 15, 2024.
AP
After a two-and-a-half-week trial in September, a jury shortly discovered Routh responsible on 5 felony counts, together with tried assassination of a serious presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer.
Routh allegedly hid in the bushes of the Trump Worldwide Golf Membership in West Palm Seaside and pointed a military-grade SKS rifle in direction of Trump and a Secret Service agent.
“Routh’s crimes of conviction mirror cautious plotting, in depth premeditation, and a cowardly disregard for human life,” prosecutors wrote. “Routh’s motive for his crimes was unconscionable – stopping the American folks from electing the candidate of their alternative for President. Routh’s gloss on his crimes has all the time been that something he might have executed was justified by occasions in Ukraine or American home politics.”
Routh represented himself at trial and tried to argue that he by no means supposed to hurt Trump or the Secret Service agent, framing his actions as a type of protest in opposition to the president’s insurance policies. After he was discovered responsible, he tried to hurt himself in entrance of the jury by stabbing himself with a pen.
FILE – On this picture taken from police physique digicam video and launched by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Workplace, regulation enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the person suspected within the obvious assassination try of Donald Trump, Sept. 15, 2024.
AP
Since his conviction, Routh was appointed an lawyer and has requested a 27-year sentence that will enable him to “expertise freedom once more versus dying in jail.” His lawyer argued that Routh couldn’t have a good trial as a result of he represented himself, regardless that Routh made that call after repeated warnings concerning the potential penalties.
“Defendant acknowledges that he was discovered responsible by the jury however asserts that the jury was misled by his incapacity to successfully confront witnesses, use displays, or affirmatively introduce impeachment proof designed to show his lack of intent to trigger harm to anybody,” his protection lawyer wrote.
Routh has tried to bolster his push for a lighter sentence by submitting a number of letters from pals testifying to his character and present process a psychiatric examination, which urged he suffers from narcissistic character dysfunction and bipolar II dysfunction.
“Ryan has already proven, by means of his actions, that he’s an asset to his neighborhood, not a risk. He deserves the prospect to at some point return residence, the place he can proceed to be a loving father, accomplice, and a peaceable, contributing member of society,” wrote Darya Trotsenko, a Kyiv resident who stated she met Routh when he tried to volunteer to help Ukraine’s protection.
However prosecutors argue that Routh continues to indicate little regret for his actions, pointing to latest writings by which he referenced an earlier try on Trump’s life and wrote, “I hate our dictator missed the trial, can my attraction be heard in 30 years when he’s gone.”
In one other court docket submitting, Routh urged he prefers that Trump personally punish him for his actions.
“If the President wished to pummel the defendant only for good measure, placed on {the handcuffs} and shackles and provides it your worst. No cameras, no complaints, no expenses/expenses. Simply good enjoyable. Do not be a p—-. (Can I say p—- or coward – sorry),” Routh wrote.
The sentencing will happen in a federal courtroom in Fort Pierce, Florida, and determined by U.S. District Decide Aileen Cannon, a Trump-appointed decide who dismissed the prison case in opposition to the president in 2024 associated to his dealing with of categorized paperwork.
Routh unsuccessfully tried to have Cannon faraway from the case by arguing her appointment by Trump is a battle of curiosity.
