Ryan Routh, Man Convicted of Trying to Assassinate Trump, Gets Life Sentence

Federal prosecutors told the judge that Ryan Routh had “plotted painstakingly” to ambush Donald J. Trump in 2024 at his golf course near West Palm Beach.

A man who plotted to kill Donald J. Trump at one of his Florida golf courses during the 2024 election campaign was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, the maximum penalty for attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate.

Ryan W. Routh, 59, an itinerant building contractor from North Carolina, sat quietly as Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., announced his sentence.

A 12-member jury convicted Mr. Routh last September after an unusual, lopsided trial in which Mr. Routh represented himself. The jury also found him guilty of assaulting a federal officer for pointing his semiautomatic rifle at a Secret Service agent, and of several firearm violations. Mr. Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen after the verdict was read in court.

Last month, federal prosecutors recommended a life sentence, saying that Mr. Routh had “plotted painstakingly” to stake out Mr. Trump at the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach. They also noted that he had not expressed remorse for his actions.

“Routh’s crimes of conviction reflect careful plotting, extensive premeditation and a cowardly disregard for human life,” the prosecutors wrote. “Routh remains unrepentant for his crimes, never apologized for the lives he put at risk, and his life demonstrates near total disregard for law.”

At the sentencing hearing, one of the prosecutors, John Shipley, told Judge Cannon that Mr. Routh’s intent had been “to upend American democracy.”

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Mr. Routh, a former roofer from Greensboro, N.C., never fired a shot during the thwarted assassination attempt on Sept. 15, 2024 — a fact that his lawyer, Martin L. Roth, emphasized on Wednesday. A Secret Service agent spotted him outside a fence near the sixth hole while Mr. Trump was golfing nearby. The agent fired; Mr. Routh fled in his car and was caught shortly after. It was the second assassination attempt against Mr. Trump in 2024, as he was running for a second term.

Mr. Routh’s sentencing was delayed after he requested a lawyer to help him prepare. Mr. Roth asked the court to consider setting aside the sentencing guidelines and instead sentence his client to 27 years in prison. The lawyer argued that such a term would serve as sufficient punishment.

“Defendant would be in custody into his 80s and would not pose any threat to cause harm to the public,” Mr. Roth wrote. On Wednesday, he described Mr. Routh as “troubled,” but said he had “a very good core.”

Through his lawyer, Mr. Routh objected in particular to the prosecutors’ classification of the assassination attempt as a “federal crime of terrorism.” Such a finding would have required the defendant’s conduct to be “calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct,” the lawyer said.

Mr. Routh told the judge before his sentencing on Wednesday that he was a do-gooder, saying, “I’ve given every drop of who I am, every day, for the benefit of our nation.”

Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, told Mr. Routh, “There really is no doubt that you intended to kill a major presidential candidate,” adding, “You almost achieved your evil plan.”

During his trial last year, Mr. Routh offered little in the way of a defense, telling jurors that prosecutors had not proved that he had “any intent” to kill. Ahead of his sentencing, relatives and friends asked the judge for leniency. They said that while they could not condone Mr. Routh’s actions, they knew him as hard-working and altruistic. Several letters regarded his volunteer work on behalf of Ukraine, helping the war effort there after the Russian invasion of 2022.

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