A Florida man convicted of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump tried to stab himself with a pen in the courtroom minutes after hearing his guilty verdict. Courtroom officers quickly restrained him before he could cause serious harm.
According to The Hill, 59-year-old Ryan Routh was found guilty Tuesday on all five federal counts, including attempted assassination of a presidential candidate and multiple firearm violations. Twelve jurors deliberated for just two hours before issuing the decision following a two-week trial in South Florida.
Routh’s sentencing has been set for Dec. 18, with the attempted assassination charge carrying a maximum penalty of life in prison. His daughter, present for the verdict, broke down in court, pleading with him to stop after his attempted self-harm.
As jurors exited the courtroom, Routh suddenly grabbed a pen and tried to drive it into his neck, according to federal officials. U.S. Marshals rushed him, forcibly taking him out of the room as his daughter, Sara, shouted at him not to hurt himself.
Witnesses said Sara Routh screamed, “Dad, I love you, don’t do anything,” while assuring him she would fight for him outside the courtroom. Routh later appeared again before the judge, restrained in shackles, dressed only in a shirt with no signs of physical injury.
The incident came just moments after an intense trial concluded, where Routh insisted on representing himself. He had previously declared that public defenders feared him and would not support his claims of being nonviolent.
Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting Trump’s assassination, staking out the former president’s West Palm Beach golf course for 12 hours last September. They argued he pressed the muzzle of a rifle through the perimeter fence near the sixth hole before being spotted by the Secret Service.
A Secret Service agent testified that he fired at Routh after noticing him before Trump ever appeared at the spot. Routh fled the scene without ever discharging his weapon.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Browne told the jury that Routh’s lack of a trigger pull did not negate his actions. “If the evidence in this case has shown one thing and one thing only, it’s that Ryan Wesley Routh wanted Donald Trump dead,” Browne said.
Routh countered prosecutors by insisting he never intended to kill and was incapable of murder. He argued that no crime was committed because he never fired a shot.
“It’s hard for me to believe that a crime occurred if the trigger was never pulled,” Routh told jurors during closing arguments. He then veered into unrelated political commentary about Adolf Hitler and conflicts abroad.
His defense lasted about three hours and included testimony from a firearms expert and two character witnesses. He chose not to take the stand himself.
Outside of the courtroom, Routh’s daughter Sara condemned the trial as unfair. She pointed specifically to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who presided over the case, saying she should have recused herself due to connections to Trump.
Cannon, nominated by Trump in 2020, also oversaw his classified documents prosecution before dismissing that case following his election victory. Sara Routh argued that this background created a perception of bias against her father.
“If anybody has a heart in the jury, then they’ll see that my father doesn’t deserve it,” she told NewsNation before Tuesday’s verdict.