{"id":1403840,"date":"2026-02-04T09:15:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/?p=1403840&preview=true&preview_id=1403840"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:41:00","slug":"trump-shooting-prosecutors-life-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/2026\/02\/04\/trump-shooting-prosecutors-life-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"Man who tried to shoot Trump at a Florida golf course gets life in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DAVID FISCHER, Associated Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 A man convicted of trying\u00a0to assassinate President Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0on a Florida golf course in 2024 was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison after a federal prosecutor said his crime was unacceptable \u201cin this country or anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon<\/a>\u00a0pronounced Ryan Routh\u2019s fate in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that erupted into chaos in September when he tried to stab himself shortly after jurors\u00a0found him guilty<\/a>\u00a0on all counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican democracy does not work when individuals take it into their own hands to eliminate candidates. That\u2019s what this individual tried to do\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley told the judge.<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Martin L. Roth argued that \u201cat the moment of truth, he chose not to pull the trigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge pushed back, noting Routh\u2019s history of arrests, to which Roth said, \u201cHe\u2019s a complex person, I\u2019ll give the court that, but he has a very good core.\u201d<\/p>\n

Routh then read from a rambling, 20-page statement. Cannon broke in, said none of what he was saying was relevant and gave him five more minutes to talk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did everything I could and lived a good life,\u201d Routh said, before the judge cut him off.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour plot to kill was deliberate and evil,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are not a peaceful man. You are not a good man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ryan
FILE – In this image released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Wesley Routh, a man suspected in an apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She then issued his sentence: life without parole, plus seven years on a gun charge. His sentences for his other three crimes will run concurrently.<\/p>\n

In a statement on the social platform X, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi thanked prosecutors for ensuring that Routh \u201cwill never walk free again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan Routh\u2019s heinous attempted assassination of President Trump was not only an attack on our President \u2014 it was a direct assault against our entire democratic system,\u201d Bondi said.<\/p>\n

Routh’s sentencing was initially scheduled for December. But Cannon agreed to move it back after Routh decided to use an attorney during the sentencing phase, instead of representing himself as he did for most of the trial.<\/p>\n

Routh was convicted of trying to assassinate a major presidential candidate, using a firearm in furtherance of a crime, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm as a felon and using a gun with a defaced serial number.<\/p>\n

\u201cRouth remains unrepentant for his crimes, never apologized for the lives he put at risk, and his life demonstrates near-total disregard for law,\u201d prosecutors said in their sentencing memo.<\/p>\n

His defense attorney had asked for 20 years plus the mandatory seven for the gun conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant is two weeks short of being sixty years old,\u201d Roth wrote in a filing. \u201cA just punishment would provide a sentence long enough to impose sufficient but not excessive punishment, and to allow defendant to experience freedom again as opposed to dying in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n