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Ryan Routh was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison plus seven years following his 2024 assassination attempt against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club in Florida.
The sentencing comes after Routh was convicted last September on five federal criminal counts, including attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and multiple firearms offenses.
Routh spoke in court for about 15 minutes on Wednesday, repeating topics that he mentioned during his trial, such as talking about himself as a good person and his alleged work in Ukraine trying to recruit for their army.
However, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon eventually stopped Routh and made her sentencing, saying he is an evil person who intended to kill Trump and would have done so if it hadn’t been for a Secret Service agent who disrupted the plot.
ATTEMPTED TRUMP ASSASSIN TO LEARN SENTENCE, WITH PROSECUTORS SEEKING LIFE
Prosecutors pushed for the 59-year-old to get a life sentence, while Routh’s attorney, Martin Roth, asked the judge for 20 years in prison on top of a seven-year, mandatory sentence for one of the gun convictions.
“American democracy does not work when individuals take it into their own hands to eliminate candidates. That’s what this individual tried to do” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley told the judge on Wednesday.
Roth argued that “at the moment of truth, he chose not to pull the trigger.”
The judge pushed back, noting Routh’s history of arrests, to which Roth said, “He’s a complex person, I’ll give the court that, but he has a very good core.”
Routh then read from a 20-page statement. Cannon broke in and said none of what he was saying was relevant, and gave him five more minutes to talk, The Associated Press reported.
“I did everything I could and lived a good life,” Routh said, before the judge cut him off.
“Your plot to kill was deliberate and evil,” she said. “You are not a peaceful man. You are not a good man.”
She then issued his sentence: Life without parole, plus 7 years on a gun charge. His sentences for his other three crimes will run concurrently.
SECRET SERVICE AGENT DETAILS ‘TEXTBOOK AMBUSH,’ BIZARRE SELF-REPRESENTATION IN RYAN ROUTH TRIAL
Routh’s sentencing in Fort Pierce, Fla., had initially been scheduled for December, but Cannon agreed to move the date back after Routh decided to use an attorney during the sentencing phase instead of representing himself as he did for most of the trial.
Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the then-Republican presidential candidate played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach, Fla., country club.
At Routh’s trial, a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.
Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch, Heather Lacy, Andre Tinoco and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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