FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — Ryan Routh, charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump last year in South Florida, is preparing to represent himself during a pretrial conference on Tuesday as his trial approaches.
If there are no delays, jury selection for Routh’s case will start Monday in a Fort Pierce federal courtroom. In July, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted Routh’s request to represent himself, while requiring court-appointed attorneys to be available as standby counsel.
This trial comes almost a year after prosecutors claim that a U.S. Secret Service agent thwarted Routh’s alleged plot to shoot Trump while he was playing golf. Routh, aged 59, has entered a not guilty plea to charges including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, and multiple firearm violations.
According to prosecutors, Routh meticulously planned the assassination for weeks before positioning himself to aim a rifle through the shrubbery at Trump during a golf game on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club. A Secret Service agent noticed Routh before Trump was visible, and when Routh aimed at the agent instead, the agent fired shots, prompting Routh to drop his rifle and flee.
Law enforcement received assistance from a witness who reported seeing someone fleeing. A police helicopter transported the witness to a nearby interstate where Routh was captured. The witness verified that Routh was indeed the individual he had seen, according to prosecutors.
Originally from North Carolina and a former construction worker, Routh had moved to Hawaii in recent years. Known as a self-proclaimed mercenary leader, he often spoke of his risky and at times violent plans to get involved in global conflicts, witnesses have informed The Associated Press.
In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he had a 2002 arrest for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch-long fuse.
In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa tubs. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence.
In addition to the federal charges, Routh also has pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.
