A Florida man convicted of plotting to kill then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course in September 2024 was sentenced to life in prison plus seven years on Wednesday.
Ryan Wesley Routh, aged 59, was found guilty in September of attempting to assassinate Trump, marking the second known attempt on the former president’s life in the months leading up to the 2024 election that returned him to the White House.
During a 90-minute hearing, US District Judge Aileen Cannon delivered the sentence, stating it was necessary “to protect the public from future crime” committed by Routh.
“The evil is in you. Not in everybody else,” she told the defendant directly.
Routh was arrested on September 15, 2024, after a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a rifle protruding from bushes along the perimeter of Trump’s golf course. The agent opened fire, and Routh fled in a vehicle but was quickly apprehended.
The sentencing concluded a trial in which Routh chose to represent himself without any legal training. Among his unusual pre-trial requests were demands for strippers and a golf putting green in detention, as well as a proposal to select jurors based on their opinions about Gaza and Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland. All such requests were denied by the court.
The Florida golf course incident occurred just two months after another assassination attempt on Trump on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. There, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired several shots during a campaign rally, grazing Trump’s right ear and killing one rally attendee. Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service snipers, and his motive has never been clearly established.
The Pennsylvania attack became a pivotal moment in Trump’s successful 2024 campaign, galvanising support and shaping public perception of his resilience.
