A man found guilty of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump during a 2024 incident at a Florida golf course was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon handed down the sentence to Ryan Routh in a Fort Pierce courtroom that was the same venue where proceedings descended into chaos last September, when Routh attempted to stab himself shortly after a jury convicted him on all charges.

Federal prosecutors sought a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, arguing that Routh has shown no remorse and has never expressed regret for his actions. A lawyer representing Routh at sentencing urged the court to impose a 27-year term, pointing out that Routh is approaching his 60th birthday.

In addition to the life sentence, Routh was also given a consecutive seven-year prison term tied to one of his firearms convictions.

Sentencing was originally set for December, but Judge Cannon agreed to postpone it after Routh chose to retain legal counsel for this phase of the case, rather than continue representing himself as he had throughout much of the trial.

In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors wrote that Routh has refused to accept responsibility for his actions and argued that federal guidelines support keeping him incarcerated for the rest of his life. The convictions included attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, using a firearm to further a crime, assaulting a federal officer, illegal possession of a firearm as a felon, and using a gun with a defaced serial number.

“Routh remains unrepentant for his crimes, never apologized for the lives he put at risk, and his life demonstrates near-total disregard for law,” the memo said.

Routh’s newly retained attorney, Martin L. Roth, requested that the court depart from the sentencing guidelines and impose 20 years in prison in addition to the mandatory seven-year sentence for the gun charge.

“The defendant is two weeks short of being sixty years old,” Roth wrote in a filing. “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.”

Prosecutors detailed that Routh spent weeks planning an attack on Trump before positioning himself in shrubbery and aiming a rifle toward the Republican presidential candidate as he played golf on September 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.

During the trial, a Secret Service agent assigned to Trump’s protection testified that he noticed Routh before Trump came into the agent’s line of sight. According to the testimony, Routh pointed his rifle at the agent, who then fired his weapon, prompting Routh to drop the gun and flee the scene without firing a shot.

In a motion seeking legal representation, Routh proposed exchanging his life in a prisoner swap for individuals he claimed were unjustly detained abroad and said the offer remained open for Trump to “take out his frustrations on my face.”

“Just a quarter of an inch further back and we all would not have to deal with all of this mess forwards, but I always fail at everything (par for the course),” Routh wrote.

When granting Routh’s request for an attorney, Judge Cannon sharply criticized what she called the “disrespectful charade” reflected in his filing, saying it undermined the seriousness of the proceedings. Still, she said she preferred to err in favor of ensuring legal representation.

Cannon had approved Routh’s request last summer to represent himself at trial. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that defendants may do so, provided they demonstrate to a judge that they are competent to waive their right to counsel.

Routh’s former federal public defenders remained involved as standby counsel and attended the trial.

Court records showed that Routh had multiple prior felony convictions, including possession of stolen property, and maintained an extensive online presence expressing hostility toward Trump. In a self-published book, he urged Iran to assassinate Trump and at another point wrote that, as a Trump voter, he bore some responsibility for helping elect him.

{Matzav.com}