The person accused of making an attempt to assassinate former President Trump at one in all his Florida golf programs earlier this month has pleaded not responsible to 5 federal prices, in accordance with The Related Press.
Ryan Routh, 58, appeared in federal court docket Monday to enter not responsible pleas to counts together with tried assassination of a significant political candidate and assault of a federal officer, after he allegedly poked a rifle via the perimeter of Trump’s West Palm Seaside golf course, prompting a Secret Service agent to fireplace.
Routh additionally pleaded not responsible to prices he possessed a firearm with an obliterated serial quantity regardless of being a convicted felon, in furtherance of a criminal offense of violence.
Prosecutors say Routh deliberate to kill Trump as he golfed on Sept. 15, staking out the perimeter of the course close to its sixth gap for roughly 12 hours till he was seen and fled. They revealed final week that Routh allegedly wrote a letter months earlier than the assassination try detailing his plans.
“Dear world, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you,” Routh wrote, in accordance with the letter filed by prosecutors. “I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster.”
Routh has been in custody for the reason that incident and faces as much as life in jail.
It marked the second current try on Trump’s life, after the previous president was bloodied by a shot to the ear throughout a July marketing campaign rally in Butler, Pa. That gunman was killed by a Secret Service sniper moments after firing at Trump and killing a rallygoer.
The Secret Service has mentioned Routh didn’t take any photographs and by no means had Trump in his line of sight. When the Secret Service agent noticed him, he allegedly fled the scene, abandoning two luggage, a loaded rifle with a scope and different gadgets.
He was stopped by regulation enforcement on I-95 in a neighboring county and answered affirmatively that he knew why he was being stopped, in accordance with an FBI affidavit.
Prosecutors later revealed that Routh traveled from the Greensboro, N.C., space to West Palm Seaside on Aug. 14, his cellphone pinging cell towers close to the golf course and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property within the month earlier than the incident.
Routh’s legal historical past is intensive, together with dozens of prices in North Carolina spanning site visitors violations to a conviction on felony counts of possessing a weapon of mass destruction and possession of stolen items.
The previous president has seemed to show the assassination try right into a marketing campaign situation by suggesting that the “Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI” can’t be trusted to deal with the case. Earlier than Routh was indicted for tried assassination, he confronted solely two of the firearms prices, which Trump’s marketing campaign known as a “slap on the wrist.”
The assassination suspect’s case was randomly assigned to U.S. District Decide Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who threw out the previous president’s labeled paperwork legal case earlier this 12 months.
