Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Would-Be Trump Assassin Sentenced To Life In Prison

[Wikimedia Commons/Public/Joe Gratz]

Would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, according to several reports.

Judge Aileen Cannon added an additional seven years for the indictment’s second count, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, ABC News reported.

“Your plot to kill was deliberate and evil,” Judge Aileen Cannon said, according to CNBC. “You are not a peaceful man. You are not a good man.”

Routh was convicted in September on five counts, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and gun charges, after representing himself during his 12-day Florida trial. He attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen when the guilty verdict was read.

“Ryan Routh’s heinous attempted assassination of President Trump was not only an attack on our President — it was a direct assault against our entire democratic system,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “Thanks to our prosecutors in the National Security Division and the Southern District of Florida, Routh will never walk free again.”

Though he represented himself during the trial, he requested legal counsel for his sentencing. Routh’s attorney requested a sentence of 27 years, given his age and mental state.

Routh claims the jury was “misled by his inability to effectively confront witnesses, use exhibits or affirmatively introduce impeachment evidence designed to prove his lack of intent to cause injury to anyone” during the trial, according to the defense’s filing.

Prosecutors sought a life sentence, calling his arguments for less “wholly meritless.”

“Routh’s crimes undeniably warrant a life sentence—he took steps over the course of months to assassinate a major Presidential candidate, demonstrated the will to kill anybody in the way, and has since expressed neither regret nor remorse to his victims,” prosecutors wrote in a Jan. 16 filing. “The Constitution affords citizens many peaceful avenues to oppose or express strong dissent about a Presidential candidate—murder is not one of them.”

Martin Roth, Routh’s attorney, indicated outside the courtroom Wednesday that Routh’s inability to understand federal rules of criminal procedure while defending himself would be part of their appeal.

“I don’t think he was qualified or should have been allowed to act as his own counsel in the trial,” Roth said, according to WPBF.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.