A 59-year-old man who planned to assassinate President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in September 2024 has been sentenced to life imprisonment, just weeks after the plot was uncovered ahead of the US election.
Ryan Routh was convicted in September of attempting to kill Trump, who was then the Republican presidential candidate. The case marked the second assassination attempt against Trump in the tense months leading up to the election that ultimately returned him to the White House.
At Wednesday’s sentencing, Judge Aileen Cannon imposed a punishment of life in prison plus an additional seven years, following a hearing that lasted about 90 minutes.
An AFP correspondent in the courtroom said the judge explained the sentence was imposed “to protect the public from future crime” by Routh.
Addressing him directly, Cannon said: “The evil is in you. Not in everybody else.”
Routh was arrested on September 15, 2024, after a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a rifle protruding from thick bushes near the perimeter of Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, where the former president was playing. The agent fired shots, prompting Routh to flee in a vehicle before he was apprehended a short time later.
The sentencing followed a trial in which Routh chose to represent himself, despite having no formal legal background.
Court proceedings were marked by a series of unusual requests from the defendant, including demands for strippers and a golf putting green while in custody.
He also sought to have jurors selected based on their opinions on Gaza and Trump’s interest in purchasing Greenland. All the requests were denied.
Routh’s failed plot came barely two months after another attempt on Trump’s life. On July 13, 2024, during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a 20-year-old man, Matthew Crooks, opened fire, with one bullet grazing Trump’s right ear. One rally attendee was killed in the attack.
That incident became a defining moment in Trump’s campaign comeback. Crooks was fatally shot by security personnel at the scene, and his motive has never been publicly established.
