Almost a 12 months since he allegedly perched a rifle by the chain-link fence of a golf membership in West Palm Beach, Florida, the 59-year-old man accused of making a “sniper’s nest” one gap away from the place Donald Trump was taking part in golf will now stand trial.
Ryan Routh has chosen to signify himself within the trial, which can function proof from prosecutors that features eyewitness testimony of Routh allegedly fleeing the scene, statements from the individuals who say they bought him the rifle, and a letter allegedly from Routh confessing: “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.”
Jury choice will start Monday in a federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, and is being dealt with by Judge Aileen Cannon, the identical decide who dismissed the classified documents case in opposition to Trump in 2024 — a case she confronted heavy criticism for over the gradual tempo and detailed, in-person hearings she held for almost every movement filed.
Routh faces 5 costs, together with tried assassination of a significant presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial quantity.
Often when people, particularly those that commit crimes in opposition to high-profile targets, need to signify themselves, the main focus turns into extra about getting their message out than mounting a severe protection, Brian Donavant, the chair of prison justice, social work and sociology at Southeast Missouri State University, informed NCS.
“They want to use that as a platform,” Donavant stated of such defendants, “to get that message out.”
“We can’t really predict how he is going to proceed with the trial,” Paul Lucas, affiliate professor within the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at East Carolina University, informed NCS.
“But we’ve seen in the past with some high-profile pro se defendants, they use the trial as a platform and not so much as formulating a defensive strategy,” he stated, utilizing the time period for individuals who signify themselves with out an lawyer.
If convicted, Routh faces life in jail.
Choosing to signify himself within the case has already culminated in Routh, by public courtroom filings, difficult Trump to “a beatdown session” or a spherical of golf, including that if “he wins he can execute me, I win I get his job.”
Routh has made clear his disdain for Trump in latest courtroom filings, referring to the president as “a racist pig” and sarcastically as “the victim, poor pitiful Trump.”
Routh steered that half of his protection can be round his document of peacefulness — supported, in his telling, by the numerous witnesses he desires to testify, together with previous co-workers, managers and his son.
“Character is the whole of this entire case — there is nothing else,” Routh wrote in a single submitting.
Donavant informed NCS that “it’s just not really a good idea to represent yourself at trial — even if you are a seasoned attorney,” noting that Routh seemingly gained’t be acquainted with primary authorized and courtroom procedures. A public defender can be obtainable as a standby counsel.
In his anticipation for Monday, Routh requested the courtroom for a cellphone, a “fancy typewriter” and different gadgets to put together for trial.
“Some female strippers would be great too,” he added.
Journalist who met Ryan Routh describes him as “idealistic”
In August 2024, Routh drove from North Carolina to West Palm Beach, and over the subsequent month travelled a number of instances to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and the close by golf course, prosecutors say, citing mobile phone knowledge.
Then, within the early hours of September 15, Routh’s mobile phone knowledge pinned him on the border of the golf membership, the place he waited for almost 12 hours, prosecutors allege.
Later that day, as Trump and his now-foreign envoy Steve Witkoff had been taking part in the fifth gap of the course, a Secret Service agent scouted out the outlet forward. It was then he noticed the partially obscured face of a person and the barrel of a rifle sticking by the fence line aimed instantly on the agent, courtroom paperwork say.
The agent fired a number of pictures from his service weapon earlier than retreating behind a tree to radio within the menace. That’s when prosecutors say Routh was seen by a citizen fleeing to a close-by automotive. The citizen took footage of the car and shared them with legislation enforcement officers.
The automotive was stopped by county officers almost 45 minutes in a while a sprawling Florida freeway, and Routh, who was driving the automotive, was arrested.
Investigators say they discovered baggage stuffed with armored plates ready to stand up to pistol fireplace hung in entrance of the sniper’s perch on the fence line, together with a digital digicam, some meals, and the SKS rifle, loaded with 11 bullets and one spherical resting within the chamber, prepared to fireplace.
At the time Routh was found, Trump was roughly quarter-hour from arriving on the sixth gap, simply 100 ft from the rifleman’s perch.
Intent and a letter to the world
Much of Routh’s protection facilities on “intent, intent, intent,” as he writes in latest filings.
One instance of the “intent” Routh highlights is what he frames as his unblemished document of by no means slighting one other particular person and of advocating for peace.
“All of my exhibits speak only to peacefulness, Non-violence and gentleness as a pertinent trait and should be admitted,” he not too long ago wrote to the decide.
Routh says the “Dear World” letter wherein he allegedly confessed to attempting to kill Trump speaks of peace and bringing nations and other people collectively below the umbrella of humanity in later pages.
“I am so sorry I failed you,” the primary web page says of an “assassination attempt” on Trump. “I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”
Investigators say Routh’s alleged letter, addressed to “The World,” was turned over to them by a person who stated Routh had dropped off a field at his dwelling months earlier and, after studying of the alleged assassination try, opened the field.
It contained “ammunition, a metal pipe, miscellaneous building materials, tools, four phones, and various letters,” courtroom filings say.
“None of the letters have any usefulness now — the world is totally f**ked,” Routh wrote in a latest submitting asking for extra of the letter to be admitted displaying the elements the place it discusses peace.
The previous Soviet-style, Chinese-made rifle investigators say they discovered on the golf course fence line was illegally bought to Routh — a convicted felon — simply earlier than he left North Carolina for West Palm Beach, in accordance to courtroom information.
North Carolina’s Tina Cooper and Ronnie Oxendine pleaded responsible earlier this 12 months to costs round promoting the rifle to Routh, who they each knew by previous roofing work within the Nineteen Nineties.
According to Cooper’s plea, she informed Oxendine, her boss, that Routh was coming to city on July 28 and requested later whether or not he had an AK-47 on the market. Cooper organized a gathering with the three of them, and Routh paid Oxendine $350 in money for the rifle and gave Cooper $100 for establishing the sale.
During trial, Routh says he intends to name one professional witness with firearm expertise to talk about the place of the alleged sniper’s nest and the performance of the gun itself.
The witness, a former Marine sniper, was allowed to fireplace the rifle investigators discovered on the fence line however was ready to get off just one shot earlier than the rifle jammed.
Prosecutors say legislation enforcement officers fired the gun efficiently for a number of rounds with out it jamming and famous that the person examined the firearm eight months later and after the weapon had undergone some chemical testing.
In latest filings after taking the case over himself, Routh has pushed to embody testimony from medical doctors who psychologically evaluated him following his arrest.
Cannon, nonetheless, denied Routh’s request for his or her testimony, noting that Routh has already said he wouldn’t make a protection argument round his psychological well being, had no authorized foundation and that his request was far too late.
According to Cannon, Routh had talked about in an August pretrial listening to that he wished to spotlight the narcissism trait recognized by the professionals.
One physician discovered that Routh met the factors for “a narcissistic personality disorder,” and the opposite decided that Routh has “mixed personality features including schizotypal, narcissistic, and antisocial features.”
Cannon additionally identified in her determination denying their testimony that each medical doctors decided Routh didn’t qualify for an madness protection and was competent to stand trial.
The public defenders who had been beforehand assigned to Routh’s case earlier than he stopped partaking with them this summer time have been ordered by Cannon to be Routh’s standby counsel within the case.
As standby counsel, the attorneys can be obtainable to advise Routh as he requests. Depending on how the case proceeds, Cannon may develop that advisory position if Routh’s self illustration causes points within the trial.
“A federal judge can and will take away the right to self-representation if the defendant is not competent,” affiliate professor Lucas stated. “This is difficult for any judge to balance, but if she feels that the trial is continually being derailed, he’s abusing the right, he is saying things in open court that he is not allowed to be saying — she can certainly remove that right to self-representation.”