A Florida man who plotted to kill Donald Trump at his golf course in 2024 has been sentenced to life in prison for the attempted assassination
FORT PIERCE: A man who plotted to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in 2024 was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.
Ryan Routh, 59, was convicted in September of attempting to kill Trump just two months before the election that returned him to the White House.
Judge Aileen Cannon imposed the sentence of life plus seven years after a 90-minute hearing, stating it was “to protect the public from future crime” by Routh.
“The evil is in you. Not in everybody else,” she told him directly in court.
Routh was arrested on September 15, 2024 after a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel protruding from bushes near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course.
The agent opened fire, and Routh was apprehended shortly after fleeing the scene in a vehicle.
The sentencing concluded a trial where Routh represented himself despite having no legal training.
His bizarre pre-trial requests included asking for strippers and a golf putting green while in detention.
He also demanded jurors be selected based on their views regarding Gaza and Trump’s desire to purchase Greenland, requests which were rejected.
Routh’s plot occurred just two months after another assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
In that incident, 20-year-old Matthew Crooks fired shots at a rally, one grazing Trump’s right ear and killing a rally-goer.
Crooks was immediately shot by security forces, and his motive remains unknown.
The Pennsylvania attack proved a pivotal moment in Trump’s successful campaign to return to power.
