ORLANDO, Fla. — A person accused of trying to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump in South Florida gained’t be tried till September 2025, a federal choose dominated this week.
Ryan Routh’s trial will start Sept. 8 as a substitute of the beforehand scheduled Feb. 10, 2025, begin date, U.S. District Choose Aileen Cannon mentioned in an order launched on Monday.
Routh, 58, a Hawaii resident, has pleaded not responsible.
Routh’s attorneys had requested the choose to delay the trial till no sooner than subsequent December, saying they wanted extra time to overview the proof in opposition to him and determine whether or not to mount an madness protection.
Routh owned 17 cellphones and quite a few different digital units, and there are lots of of hours of police physique digital camera and surveillance movies which have been supplied to the protection, Routh’s attorneys argued throughout a listening to two weeks in the past in Fort Pierce, Fla.
In her order, Cannon mentioned she wished to err on the aspect of offering extra time given the seriousness of the allegations, however that beginning the trial no sooner than December can be an extreme quantity. A September trial date didn’t quantity to an “unreasonable delay,” she mentioned.
The choose mentioned that any madness protection or any request associated to Routh’s psychological competency have to be made by early February. Any go to to the scene of the assassination try have to be made by the tip of February.
Prosecutors say Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks earlier than aiming a rifle via the shrubbery as Trump performed golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Seashore nation membership. Earlier than Trump got here into view, Routh was noticed by a Secret Service agent. Routh allegedly aimed his rifle on the agent, who opened fireplace, inflicting Routh to drop his weapon and flee with out firing a shot. Prosecutors say he left behind a word describing his intentions.
He was arrested a short while later driving on a close-by interstate.
Routh’s cost of tried assassination of a significant presidential candidate carries a possible life sentence within the occasion of a conviction. Different expenses embody assaulting a federal officer and three firearms counts. He’s being held with out bail on the federal jail in Miami.
Routh’s arrest got here two months after Trump was shot and wounded within the ear in an assassination try throughout a marketing campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service acknowledged failings main as much as that capturing however has mentioned safety labored because it ought to must thwart the potential Florida assault.