Ryan Routh was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after a federal jury found him guilty last year of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee, NBC News reported.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon delivered the sentence, along with a mandatory additional seven years for a firearm offense. Routh was convicted of trying to kill Trump at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach in September 2024.
Judge Cannon sharply condemned Routh’s actions, calling the assassination plot "evil." She told him, "It is clear to me, Mr. Routh, that life imprisonment is reasonable. Despite the evil, there is a sliver of good. ... We see the courage of good Americans ... in Agent Fercano," referring to Secret Service agent Robert Fercano, who spotted Routh hiding in shrubbery near the fifth hole.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, writing that Routh “remains totally unrepentant" and that “the heinous nature of this assassination attempt - his selfish, violent decision to prevent the American voters from electing President Trump by killing him first - that warrants severe criminal punishment." Prosecutor John Shipley said Routh "intended a cold-blooded killing" to "upend democracy" and added, “It is not American or democratic to settle a political grievance with a bullet."
Routh represented himself during the trial but was assigned a court-appointed attorney for sentencing. His attorney, Martin Roth, argued that Routh did not “commit an act of terrorism" and asked for a 20-year term plus the mandatory seven-year firearm sentence. Roth said Routh would “be in custody into his eighties and would not pose any threat to cause harm to the public." He told the court that his client "decided not to pull the trigger" and that he "has always tried to do important things." Roth added, "He’s a complex person, I’ll give the court that, but he has a good core."
Wednesday’s hearing marked Routh’s first court appearance since he tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen after the guilty verdict last year.
Routh underwent a medical evaluation before trial. Prosecutors wrote that a private psychiatrist hired by his former counsel "ultimately acknowledged that Routh had no basis to claim incompetence, insanity, or diminished capacity, but did propose that Routh suffers from two disorders [Narcissistic Personality Disorder and a Bipolar II diagnosis]." The government said Routh made no effort to explain how those conditions related to his crimes.
Routh’s attorney asked that he receive mental health treatment while in custody.