Leftist would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh, whose radical views included vehement opposition to President Donald Trump and support for far-left causes, was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for his brazen attempt to kill the president on a Florida golf course in 2024
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon handed down the life sentence without parole, plus a consecutive seven-year term for one of the gun convictions, following Routh’s conviction last year on all counts, including attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm-related charges.
Prosecutors had pushed for the maximum penalty, arguing in a sentencing memorandum that Routh “remains unrepentant for his crimes, never apologized for the lives he put at risk, and his life demonstrates near-total disregard for law.”
Follow LifeNews.com on Instagram for pro-life pictures and videos.
Routh’s defense attorney, Martin L. Roth, sought a lesser sentence of 20 years on top of the mandatory seven-year gun term, writing in a filing that “The defendant is two weeks short of being sixty years old” and that “A just punishment would provide a sentence long enough to impose sufficient but not excessive punishment, and to allow defendant to experience freedom again as opposed to dying in prison.”
The 59-year-old Hawaii resident, who had a history of felony convictions and a large online footprint expressing disdain for Trump, spent weeks plotting the attack before aiming a rifle through shrubbery at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15, 2024.
A Secret Service agent spotted Routh and opened fire after Routh pointed the weapon at him, prompting Routh to drop the rifle and flee without firing a shot.
In a self-published book titled “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” Routh encouraged Iran to assassinate Trump, writing, “You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me.”
He described Trump as a “buffoon” and “fool,” and admitted voting for him in 2016 before turning against him, calling it a “terrible mistake.”
Routh’s political affiliations were muddled but leaned left, with records showing him registered as a Democrat in North Carolina before becoming unaffiliated, voting in Democratic primaries, and making small donations to Democratic causes via ActBlue.
His vehicle bore a Biden-Harris bumper sticker.
