The man found guilty of trying to assassinate President Trump while he was golfing in South Florida last year attempted to harm himself with a pen after a federal jury delivered the verdict on Tuesday afternoon.
Ryan Routh was found guilty on all five charges after the jury deliberated for two hours. The charge of trying to assassinate a major presidential candidate can lead to a maximum life sentence.
Once the verdict was declared and jurors began exiting the courtroom, Routh seized a pen and tried to stab his neck with it, prompting U.S. Marshals to intervene, as reported by The Hill’s sister network, NewsNation.
They dragged him out of the courtroom, as his daughter, Sara Routh, screamed.
“Dad, I love you, don’t do anything,” she said, according to The Associated Press. “I’ll get you out. He didn’t hurt anybody.”
After this episode, Routh was returned to the judge in restraints. He no longer had on a jacket and tie, and his shirt showed no evidence of blood.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon set his sentencing for Dec. 18.
Routh was convicted after a two-week trial where he defended his own case.
Federal prosecutors presented 38 witnesses over seven days to demonstrate to the jury that Routh had spent weeks devising a plan to kill Trump. This culminated when he aimed a rifle through the boundary of his West Palm Beach golf course last September, near the sixth hole.
Routh was spotted before Trump came into view, a Secret Service agent testified. He shot at Routh, who fled without firing a shot back.
But the government argued the fact Routh didn’t pull the trigger shouldn’t stop the panel from reaching a guilty verdict.
“If the evidence in this case has demonstrated one thing and one thing only: It’s that Ryan Wesley Routh wanted Donald Trump dead,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Browne said in his closing statements, according to NewsNation.
Routh argued the opposite. He said he’s incapable of killing a person, zeroing in on the shootout that never was and suggesting he had no intent to do so, as prosecutors alleged.
“It’s hard for me to believe that a crime occurred if the trigger was never pulled,” the defendant said during closing arguments that also veered off topic to touch on Adolf Hitler and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, according to The Associated Press.
Routh called just three witnesses in his three-hour defense case: a firearms expert and two character witnesses. He did not take the stand himself.
On Monday, Sara Routh told NewsNation she thought the trial was “rigged.”
She said Cannon, the judge, “should have recused herself from the beginning,” noting her link to Trump. Cannon oversaw the president’s classified documents case, which was dismissed after he took back the White House, regularly earning his praise.
“If anybody has a heart in the jury, then they’ll see that my father doesn’t deserve it,” she told NewsNation.
Routh was convicted of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence; assaulting a federal officer; possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon; and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, in addition to the count of attempted assassination.
His attempt on Trump’s life was the second against the then-presidential candidate last year.
Trump faced another assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., in July. That shooter was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper seconds after firing at Trump and nicking his ear.
Updated at 4:08 p.m. EDT
