Ryan Routh, the man convicted of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course last summer, attempted to stab himself with a pen as the verdict was read inside a Fort Pierce courtroom on Tuesday.
After a little over two hours of deliberations, Routh was convicted on all charges levied against him in relation to the attempt, including attempted assassination of a presidential candidate and multiple firearms-related charges. He was also convicted of assaulting the Secret Service agent who intervened to stop the attempt on September 15, 2024.
Routh, who had pleaded not guilty to all the charges, now faces life in prison when he is sentenced.
According to a report from Fox News, Routh attempted to stab himself was a pen as the verdict was being read. “It’s quite shocking. As the verdict was read, it appeared to our producers inside the courtroom that Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen. That’s what it appeared to look like,” network reporter Danamarie McNicholl said from outside the courthouse.
“Then four marshals dragged him out of the courtroom, took his coat off. They then shackled him at the waist and ankles, and then they brought him back into the courtroom. So again, this just in from our producers, As the verdict was being read, Routh tried to hurt himself in the neck with a pen.”
The verdict came in after Routh capped his two-week trial, during which he served as his own attorney. Throughout the trial, he attempted to argue that there was no crime because he did not get a chance to fire a shot at Trump.
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Just 12 minutes into his closing argument, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon interrupted Routh and scolded him for ignoring her order to “stay within the bounds of the case” after he started complaining that he wasn’t allowed to put more witnesses on the stand, NBC News reported.
With the jury out of the room, Routh asked whether his initial public defenders could finish his closing arguments if he was stopped again, which Cannon denied. He went on to ramble about Ukraine, the January 6 Capitol protests, founding father Patrick Henry and more before Cannon put an end to his monologue after 42 minutes.
On September 15, a Secret Service advance team engaged a would-be assassin after they spotted the barrel of a rifle sticking through a fence on the perimeter of the course. An agent opened fire, causing the suspect to flee roughly 300 yards from the former president’s location.
An eyewitness managed to spot a suspect fleeing the scene, and managed to provide law enforcement with a physical description, as well as a description of the gunman’s vehicle. The suspect, later identified as 58-year-old Ryan Routh, was soon arrested without incident in nearby Martin County.
He frequently claimed that he was raising money to recruit U.S. soldiers to fight in Ukraine, as well as defense for other nations such as Taiwan and South Korea. He frequently stated that he was working to recruit former Afghan soldiers for fighting in Ukraine as well.
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In a 2023 article from the New York Times, the outlet noted that Routh is a former construction worker from North Carolina who currently resides in Hawaii.
“Ryan Routh, a former construction worker from Greensboro, N.C., is seeking recruits from among Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban. Mr. Routh, who spent several months in Ukraine last year, said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He said dozens had expressed interest,” the New York Times reported.
“We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country,” Routh told the outlet. The report noted that it was unclear whether he had succeeded in recruiting foreign troops, though one former Afghan soldier confirmed that he was contacted and expressed interest in fighting if he could leave Iran, where he was living illegally.
Federal prosecutors had argued during the trial that Routh planned his attack for months. “It is not every case where the defendant writes his intent down on a piece of paper,” prosecutor Christopher Browne said during his closing argument.
He was speaking in reference to a note Routh wrote before he was arrested. It was addressed “To the World” and stated plainly, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.”
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