The courtroom went from hushed to chaotic in seconds. Moments after a jury found Ryan Wesley Routh, 59, guilty on all counts for plotting to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf club, the defendant grabbed a pen and thrust it toward his own neck. US Marshals tackled him before the pen made contact and dragged him through a side door. When he returned, he was shackled.
A sketch artist in the front row, Lothar Speer, said Routh had shown “no emotion” as the verdict was read—until the sudden lunge.
“Oh my god, he’s trying to kill himself!” a voice screamed from the gallery.
It was Routh’s daughter, Sarah, who moments later shouted, “I love you and we will get you out, don’t worry,” before deputies escorted her out.
An IT specialist in the audience, John Grouse, told reporters he saw no blood.
“They were on him fast,” he said.
Routh was convicted in federal court of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, and multiple firearms offenses tied to a September 15, 2024 plot at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. He faces life in prison when US District Judge Aileen Cannon sentences him on December 18. Jurors deliberated less than three hours.
Trump, who was attending the UN General Assembly in New York, quickly weighed in.
“This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him,” he posted on Truth Social, congratulating Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the Justice Department team. Speaking to reporters, he added, “You can’t let things like that happen… justice was served.”
Prosecutors said Routh turned a patch of brush by the sixth green into a sniper’s hide — steel plates for cover, shooting lanes mapped out across the sixth and seventh holes — and lay in wait for hours before a Secret Service agent spotted him. The agent testified Routh raised an SKS 7.62×39 rifle toward him; the agent fired, Routh dropped the weapon, and fled.
From there, the government piled on the receipts:
An FBI supervisory special agent, Kimberly McGreevy, walked jurors through call logs, texts, bank records, Google activity, and license-plate hits tying Routh to the course for weeks, including a 16-hour stretch on Sept. 2 starting at 4 a.m. Agents said searches from “burner phones” included “Trump’s upcoming rallies,” “Palm Beach traffic cameras,” and “directions to Miami airport.”
Agents recovered the SKS, later testifying it was operable; they said Routh’s fingerprint was on the scope and his DNA on the gun, gloves, and other gear. The magazine held 19 rounds, with one in the chamber, prosecutors said.
Less than an hour before the planned ambush, Routh texted each of his three children: “Love you so much,” “You are so awesome dude,” “You are so brilliant.” One son replied: “What’s up? Everything alright?”
Prosecutors described multiple license plates, three aliases, and searches for flights to Mexico and hospitals in the area (with notes on tourniquets). A text to a friend in Mexico:
“I may see you Monday.”
After gunfire cracked the golf course calm, a bystander, Tommy McGee, tailed a frantic man in a black Nissan Xterra, snapped photos and the plate, and alerted police. Routh was arrested on I-95 about an hour later. In court, Routh told McGee:
“You’re a good man… an American hero.”
Jurors also heard about a box mailed months earlier to two brothers in North Carolina that allegedly contained pipes, wires, and a 12-page note titled “Dear World,” offering money “to complete the job.” After legal wrangling, only the first three lines of the letter were admitted.
In all, the government put up 38 witnesses over nearly two weeks, then rested.
Routh fired his lawyers and represented himself. He called three witnesses, including a former Marine sniper, Michael McClay, who said the SKS jammed twice in later testing—an effort to suggest the gun wasn’t reliably functional that day. Prosecutors countered that the test happened seven months after the incident and after acid treatment to restore the obliterated serial number, making it irrelevant to the gun’s condition on Sept. 15.
Routh’s opening statement and closing argument often drifted. Judge Cannon repeatedly cut him off when he strayed into topics outside the evidence—at one point sending the jury out so she could remind him that closing arguments are not testimony. (Earlier, she had stopped an opening that detoured into Hitler and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.)
In his final pitch, Routh insisted there was no intent because he never pulled the trigger:
“If the attempted assassination was not taken, it is not an attempt.”
Prosecutors hammered the legal standard—intent plus substantial steps is enough.
“This was not a publicity stunt,” Assistant US Attorney Christopher Browne said. “The evidence shows one thing and one thing only—the defendant wanted Donald Trump dead.”
On rebuttal, John Shipley reminded jurors, “Nobody has to be shot” to convict on attempt.
The verdict delivered, Routh’s daughter Sarah shouted her support — then the room exploded when Routh lunged with a pen. Marshals swarmed. “I didn’t see any blood,” witness John Grouse said. When Routh reappeared, ankle chains clinked against the floor.
Outside the courthouse, Attorney General Bondi said the verdict “illustrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to punishing those who engage in political violence.” Deputy AG Blanche called it a message case: an attempt on a presidential candidate “is an attack on our Republic and on the rights of every citizen.”
Routh’s plot came two months after the Butler, Pennsylvania rally where a bullet grazed Trump’s ear. Prosecutors said Routh made at least 17 reconnaissance trips to the course ahead of Sept. 15, arriving before dawn on the day of the alleged attempt and waiting more than 11 hours for a shot that never came.
He was convicted on all five counts. The sentence now looms. The questions — about intent, security lapses, and copycat risks — aren’t going anywhere.
Sentencing: Dec. 18 in Fort Pierce.
Potential penalty: Up to life in prison.
CNN, AP, FOX News, CBS News, and USA Today contributed to this report.
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