Ryan Routh Sentenced to Life in Prison for Attempted Ass-ssination of Donald Trump

Ryan Routh, the 58-year-old man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump while the then-presidential candidate was golfing in Florida, has been sentenced to life in federal prison without the possibility of parole.

The sentencing took place in a federal courtroom in Florida, where Judge Aileen Cannon delivered the punishment, describing Routh’s actions as extremely serious and deserving of the maximum penalty.

Judge Cannon stated that Routh’s crimes “undeniably warrant a life sentence.” She added:”He took steps over the course of months to assassinate a major Presidential candidate, demonstrated the will to kill anybody in the way, and has since expressed neither regret nor remorse to his victims.”

The attempted assassination happened on September 15, 2024, at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach. Secret Service agents spotted Routh hiding in bushes with a rifle while Trump was playing golf nearby.

Although Routh never got a clear line of sight on Trump and didn’t fire a shot, agents quickly moved in, and he fled the scene before being arrested shortly after.During his trial, which began on September 8 (after a guilty verdict was reached last year), Routh pleaded not guilty and chose to represent himself.

His behavior in court was highly erratic—he challenged Trump to a game of golf, made random references to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin, and in his closing statement spoke in the third person about unrelated topics like U.S. history, the Russia-Ukraine war, and wanting to buy a boat. The judge had to repeatedly interrupt him and send the jury out of the room.After the jury found him guilty on all counts, Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen in open court. U.S. Marshals immediately restrained him and removed him from the courtroom.

Federal prosecutors presented what they called a “mountain of evidence,” including: A semiautomatic rifle with a scope and extended magazine recovered from the spot where Routh was hiding, A handwritten list of places where Trump was likely to appear, A note left for a friend describing the incident as “an assassination attempt”The Florida golf course incident was the second known attempt on Trump’s life in 2024.

The first occurred in July at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire, grazing Trump’s ear, killing one attendee, and wounding several others before being killed by Secret Service snipers.