THE deranged gunman convicted of trying to assassinate Donald Trump will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Ryan Routh, 59, plotted for months to try and gun down the then-presidential candidate as he played a round of golf.
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Ryan Routh, 59, will spend the rest of his life behind bars for trying to assassinate President Donald TrumpCredit: AP
He hid in the brush at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club in Florida and pointed a rifle at the then-presidential candidateCredit: DOJ
Routh was cuffed just months after Trump was shot in the ear in an assassination attemptCredit: Getty
The plotting criminal was convicted on five federal counts last September.
The charges include attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, and multiple firearms offenses.
Prosecutors told the judge his crimes “undeniably warrant a life sentence,” and said he showed no remorse after the failed plot.
In their memo, 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,”
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Meanwhile, the defense asked for a 27-year sentence, and emphasized that, at his age, this likely still meant life in prison.
His lawyer, Martin L. Roth, wrote, “The defendant is two weeks short of being sixty years old.”
Roth added a sentence should “allow defendant to experience freedom again as opposed to dying in prison.”
Prosecutors say the obsessed criminal spent weeks tracking Trump’s movements in South Florida.
They said he lay in thick bushes in the West Palm Beach golf club for nearly 10 hours on September 15, 2024.
Investigators recovered an assault-style rifle, metal plates described as body-armor-like, and a video camera pointed at the course.
A US Secret Service agent testified he spotted Routh before Trump came into view.
The agent opened fire, and Routh dropped the weapon and fled without firing a shot.
Authorities later arrested him after he ran from the scene, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Routh used fake names, carried six cellphones, and tried to conceal his identity as he devised the unhinged plot.
His arrest came just months after Trump was grazed by a bullet at a rally in a harrowing near-death assassination attempt.
Routh represented himself for much of the case, and after the guilty verdict he tried to stab himself with a pen before being restrained by US Marshals Service.
After the conviction, Trump hailed the outcome in a social media post, writing, “This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him.”