Ryan Routh, the North Carolina man who was caught staking out Donald Trump at his Florida golf course with a semi-automatic rifle last year, was convicted Tuesday of attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate, a charge that could send him to prison for life.
A federal jury in Fort Pierce, Florida, found Routh, 59, guilty of the assassination attempt along with assaulting a federal officer and multiple firearm violations. Prosecutors said Routh, a drifter and construction worker, hid in the shrubbery near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15, 2024, pointing a rifle with its serial number filed off at a Secret Service agent before fleeing. He was arrested less than an hour later on Interstate 95.
“This defendant was one bullet away,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Browne told jurors in closing arguments, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The trial lasted just 12 days. It was unusual both for its speed and because Routh represented himself; Judge Aileen Cannon, who previously oversaw the federal case against Trump over classified documents, repeatedly cut off his unfocused arguments.
Routh called only three witnesses, while prosecutors presented extensive testimony from law enforcement officers and forensic experts.
Investigators said Routh lived out of an SUV for weeks while surveilling Trump’s movements, researching campaign events and watching his plane at Palm Beach International Airport. Evidence included cellphones, license plates, surveillance videos and a letter in which Routh wrote, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” offering a $150,000 bounty for the killing.
The verdict followed a year marked by multiple threats of political violence and the Sept. 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. It was the second attempt on Trump’s life in 2024, during his campaign to return to the White House.
Routh, who told jurors prosecutors had not proven “any intent,” faces sentencing later this year.
