A man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course during the critical 2024 election cycle has been sentenced to life imprisonment. On Wednesday, 59-year-old Ryan Routh learned his fate as US District Judge Aileen Cannon handed down a life sentence, plus an additional 84 months. This decision was delivered in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that saw turmoil in September when Routh attempted self-harm shortly after a jury found him guilty on all charges. Prosecutors argued for life without parole, citing Routh’s lack of remorse and failure to apologize, while a defense attorney brought in for sentencing requested a 27-year term, pointing out Routh’s advancing age.

Routh also received an additional consecutive seven-year sentence related to one of his firearm convictions. Initially set for December, his sentencing date was postponed when Routh opted for legal counsel during the sentencing phase, having represented himself for the majority of the trial. According to a memorandum from the prosecution, Routh’s refusal to accept responsibility necessitated a life sentence in line with federal guidelines.

Routh faced convictions for attempting to assassinate a prominent presidential candidate, committing a crime with a firearm, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm as a felon, and having a gun with a defaced serial number. The prosecution’s memo highlighted Routh’s unrepentant attitude and the absence of any apology for endangering lives, portraying his life as one marked by a blatant disregard for the law. Martin L. Roth, Routh’s newly appointed defense attorney, sought a sentence variance, proposing 20 years in addition to the mandatory seven years for one of the gun-related charges.

‘The defendant is two weeks short of being sixty years old,’ Roth wrote in a filing. ‘A just punishment would provide a sentence long enough to impose sufficient but not excessive punishment, and to allow defendant to experience freedom again as opposed to dying in prison.’ Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the Republican presidential candidate played golf on September 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club. At Routh’s trial, a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.

In the motion requesting an attorney, Routh offered to trade his life in a prisoner swap with people unjustly held in other countries, and said an offer still stood for Trump to ‘take out his frustrations on my face.’ ‘Just a quarter of an inch further back and we all would not have to deal with all of this mess forwards, but I always fail at everything (par for the course),’ Routh wrote. In her decision granting Routh an attorney, Cannon chastised the ‘disrespectful charade’ of Routh’s motion, saying it made a mockery of the proceedings. But the judge, nominated by Trump in 2020, said she wanted to err on the side of legal representation.

Cannon signed off last summer on Routh’s request to represent himself at trial. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have the right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by an attorney. Routh’s former federal public defenders served as standby counsel and were present during the trial. Routh had multiple previous felony convictions including possession of stolen goods, and a large online footprint demonstrating his disdain for Trump. In a self-published book, he encouraged Iran to assassinate him, and at one point wrote that as a Trump voter, he must take part of the blame for electing him.