FORT PIERCE, Florida (AP) — The person who was charged with making an attempt to assassinate Donald Trump at a Florida golf course final 12 months tried to stab himself within the neck with a pen shortly after being discovered responsible of all counts on Tuesday.
Officers shortly swarmed him and dragged him out of the courtroom.
The jury of 5 males and 7 girls discovered Ryan Routh responsible on all counts that he was going through after about two hours of deliberation.
The jurors had been on their means out of the courtroom after the decision was introduced when Routh grabbed a pen off a desk and tried to stab himself within the neck.
The pen Routh used to attempt to stab himself was a versatile pen designed to forestall individuals in custody from utilizing it as a weapon, so he didn’t puncture his pores and skin or in any other case damage himself, in response to an individual accustomed to the matter. The particular person couldn’t publicly disclose particular particulars of the incident and spoke on the situation of anonymity.
As marshals had been dragging him from the courtroom, Routh’s daughter Sara Routh started screaming, “Dad I like you, don’t do something. I’ll get you out. He didn’t damage anyone.”
She continued screaming as her father was taken from the courtroom, saying the case towards him was rigged. She was escorted from the courtroom and later waited outdoors along with her brother Adam Routh for the motorcade that took their father away.
Sara and Adam Routh, left, stroll as much as a car carrying their father Ryan Routh because it drives away from a federal courthouse, September 23, 2025, in Fort Pierce, Florida. (AP Photograph/David Fischer)
Again contained in the courtroom, Routh was introduced earlier than the choose, now not sporting a jacket and tie. Throughout the trial, Routh, who was representing himself, was not shackled. However when he was introduced earlier than the choose after the tried stabbing, he wore shackles.
The choose introduced Routh might be sentenced on Dec. 18 at 9:30 a.m. He faces life in jail.
Routh’s standby protection attorneys didn’t have a remark following the decision.
Routh had been charged with making an attempt to assassinate a serious presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a criminal offense of violence, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial quantity. He had pleaded not responsible to the costs and defended himself in court docket.
Following the decision, Trump informed reporters in New York that the case was “very well dealt with.”
“It’s crucial. You may’t let issues like that occur. Nothing to do with me, however a president — or perhaps a particular person, you’ll be able to’t permit that to occur,” Trump stated. “And so justice was served. However I very a lot recognize the choose and jury and all people on that.”
A Division of Homeland Safety K9 unit officer walks previous a truck embellished in assist of President Donald Trump, as he works with a canine educated to detect explosives outdoors the Alto Lee Adams Sr. US Courthouse after the beginning of jury choice within the trial of Ryan Routh, charged with attempting to assassinate Trump whereas he performed golf final 12 months in South Florida, September 8, 2025, in Fort Pierce, Florida. (AP Photograph/Rebecca Blackwell)
Prosecutors stated Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump earlier than aiming a rifle by means of shrubbery because the Republican performed golf on September 15, 2024, at his West Palm Seaside nation membership.
Routh informed jurors in his closing argument that he didn’t intend to kill anybody that day.
“It’s onerous for me to consider {that a} crime occurred if the set off was by no means pulled,” Routh stated. He identified that he may see Trump as he was on the trail towards the sixth-hole inexperienced on the golf course and famous that he additionally may have shot a Secret Service agent who confronted him if he had supposed to hurt anybody.
Routh, 59, exercised his constitutional proper to not testify in his personal protection. He rested his case Monday morning after questioning simply three witnesses — a firearms knowledgeable and two characters witnesses — for a complete of about three hours. In distinction, prosecutors spent seven days questioning 38 witnesses.
Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi stated in a put up on X that the responsible verdict “illustrates the Division of Justice’s dedication to punishing those that interact in political violence.”
“This tried assassination was not solely an assault on our President, however an affront to our very nation,” Bondi stated.
“This verdict sends a transparent message. An try and assassinate a presidential candidate is an assault on our Republic and on the rights of each citizen,” Deputy Legal professional Basic Todd Blanche stated in a press release. “The Division of Justice will relentlessly pursue those that attempt to silence political voices, and no enemy, overseas or home, will ever silence the need of the American individuals.”
US District Decide Aileen Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to symbolize himself following two hearings in July. The US Supreme Court docket has held that legal defendants have a proper to symbolize themselves in court docket proceedings, so long as they’ll present a choose they’re competent to waive their proper to be defended by an lawyer. Routh’s former protection attorneys have served as standby counsel since he took over his personal protection and have been current throughout trial the previous two weeks.
Recounting what occurred on the golf course, a Secret Service agent testified earlier within the trial that he noticed Routh earlier than Trump got here into view. Routh aimed his rifle on the agent, who opened fireplace, inflicting Routh to drop his weapon and flee with out firing a shot, the agent stated.
Regulation enforcement obtained assist from a witness who testified that he noticed an individual fleeing the realm after listening to gunshots. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a close-by interstate the place Routh was arrested, and the witness stated he confirmed it was the particular person he had seen.
A handout picture launched on September 16 by the Martin County Sheriff’s Offfice reveals Ryan Wesley Routh following his arrest in Martin County, Florida on September 15, 2024. (Handout by way of AFP)
Simply 9 weeks earlier, Trump had survived an try on his life whereas campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. That gunman had fired eight photographs, with one bullet grazing Trump’s ear. The gunman was then fatally shot by a Secret Service counter sniper.
Routh was a North Carolina development employee who in recent times had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary chief, Routh spoke out to anybody who would hear about his harmful and typically violent plans to insert himself into conflicts all over the world, witnesses have informed The Related Press.
Within the early days of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit troopers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to combat the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he was arrested in 2002 for eluding a site visitors cease and barricading himself from officers with a totally automated machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch (25-centimeter) fuse, police stated.
In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and located greater than 100 stolen objects, from energy instruments and constructing provides to kayaks and spa tubs. In each felony instances, judges gave Routh both probation or a suspended sentence.
Apart from the federal fees, Routh additionally has pleaded not responsible to state fees of terrorism and tried homicide.
