Ryan Routh has been found guilty of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in September last year.
A jury found Routh, 59, guilty of all charges, including the attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate and a range of firearm offences.
The incident happened on 15 September 2024 as Trump, then a presidential candidate, was playing golf on a course he owns in West Palm Beach, about 15 minutes from his Mar-a-Lago residence.
A US Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel poking out of the bushes and fired on the man holding it – later identified as Routh – who then fled the scene. He was arrested nearby.
Routh attempted to harm himself after the verdict was read out, according to the BBC’s US partner, CBS News. He reportedly tried to stab himself using a pen before US Marshals intervened.
In a social media post immediately after the verdict, Trump thanked law enforcement and a witness who provided information that led to Routh’s arrest.
Trump said of Routh: “This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him. A very big moment for JUSTICE IN AMERICA!”.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi said: “This attempted assassination was not only an attack on our president, but an affront to our very nation itself.”
Routh will be sentenced on 18 December and is facing up to life in prison.
He pleaded not guilty and made the unusual decision to defend himself during the trial, which began on 8 September and played out at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida.
A North Carolina native who lived in Hawaii prior to the Florida incident, Routh made a series of bizarre steps and statements throughout the proceedings.
Those included challenging Trump to a game of golf; requesting access to a putting green; and delivering an opening statement that touched on the history of human evolution, the “need to be kind to one another”, and references to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin. The judge cut his opening remarks short.
The court heard that during the assassination attempt, Routh hid in bushes behind a perimeter fence at the Trump International Golf Club.
He is not believed to have had a clear line of sight to Trump at any point, but agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said they found a semi automatic rifle with a scope and extended magazine where he was hiding.
The court also heard that Routh left behind a list of places where Trump was expected to appear, and a note for a friend stating “this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump”.
Making his closing statement in the Florida courthouse on Tuesday, lead prosecutor John Shipley urged the jury not to accept Routh’s argument that he was a non-violent person who didn’t have it in him to kill, CBS reported.
“His actions say otherwise,” Shipley said, describing him as dishonest and urging the jury to focus on the evidence heard in the trial which he said showed Routh obsessively planned an attack over a period of several months.
“You have a mountain of evidence and realise how close he got to actually pulling this off,” the prosecutor said. “He had a loaded round in the chamber and the safety off.”
Routh appeared stoic throughout his remarks.
But his own closing statement reflected the unusual behaviour Routh demonstrated throughout the trial, describing himself in the third person and covering a wide range of topics including key moments in US history, his plan to buy a boat, and the Ukraine war.
The judge interrupted and had the jury leave the room multiple times throughout Routh’s closing statement, admonishing him for attempting to introduce new evidence despite a warning beforehand not to do so, according to CBS.
Routh ended his remarks after nearly an hour, arguing that there had been no intent to kill because he had not pulled the trigger.
The incident in Florida was the second high-profile attempt on Trump’s life that year, after a gunman opened fire during a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July 2024.
That shooting left one person dead and injured multiple others, including Trump. The shooter was also killed at the scene.
After Routh’s verdict, FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media: “We have a lot more work to do to crack down on political violence and make sure those who engage in this heinous behaviour are off the streets and behind bars.”
There have been heightened concerns in recent weeks over political violence in America after the conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead while speaking at a university campus in Utah.
By BBC News
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