Ryan Routh, the man who tried to assassinate President Donald Trump in 2024, was sentenced to life in prison this Wednesday (4) by a United States federal judge. He was found guilty of trying to kill Trump, then the Republican presidential candidate, at the current president’s golf course in Florida.
According to the court decision, the sentence includes life imprisonment plus an additional 84 months, due to the aggravating factors applied to the case. Routh’s defense attorney, Martin Roth, said he will appeal the sentence. He told the press that he disagrees with the application of the aggravating factor of terrorism and also cited the defendant’s age, 60 years old, as one of the points that will be questioned in the appeal.
“I think the judge could have mistakenly applied an aggravating factor for the federal crime of terrorism, and this will probably be the main theme of the appeal I will present,” said the lawyer.
The conviction comes after a federal jury found Routh guilty in September of last year on five counts related to the attempted murder. These include possession of a firearm to commit a violent crime, assault on a federal agent, illegal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and possession of a weapon with a suppressed serial number, according to court records.
According to investigations, Routh, a construction worker from North Carolina, was arrested on September 15, 2024, two months before the presidential elections won by Trump. He was located on a golf course in Florida belonging to the current president, after a Secret Service agent identified him hiding behind bushes, carrying a semi-automatic rifle.
The episode marked the second assassination attempt against Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign. In July of that year, the then Republican candidate was injured in the ear after being shot during a rally in Butler, in the state of Pennsylvania, when the person responsible for the attack was killed on the spot by security forces.
