FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A man charged with trying to assassinate President Donald Trump last year in South Florida was given clear instructions on Tuesday on how he should behave — including a warning against making sudden movements — in court while representing himself during a trial that begins next week.
Barring any delays, jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Fort Pierce federal court for the case against Ryan Routh. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to represent himself in July but said court-appointed attorneys need to remain as standby counsel.
Cannon confirmed during a hearing Tuesday that Routh would be dressed in professional business attire for the trial. She also explained to Routh that he would be allowed to use a podium while speaking to the jury or questioning witnesses, but he would not have free reign of the court room.
“If you make any sudden movements, marshals will take decisive and quick action to respond,” Cannon said.
Jury selection is expected to take three days, with attorneys questioning three sets of 60 prospective jurors. They're trying to find 12 jurors and four alternates. Opening statements are scheduled to begin Thursday, Sept. 11, and prosecutors will begin their case immediately after that. The court has blocked off four weeks for the trial, but attorneys are expecting they'll need less time.
The trial will begin nearly a year after prosecutors say a U.S. Secret Service agent thwarted Routh's attempt to shoot Trump as he played golf. Routh, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations.
Prosecutors have said Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club. A Secret Service agent spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Officials said Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.
Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who prosecutors said informed officers that he saw a person fleeing. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witnesses confirmed it was the person he had seen, prosecutors have said.
The judge on Tuesday unsealed prosecutor's 33-page list of exhibits that could be introduced as evidence at the trial. It says prosecutors have photos of Routh holding the same model of semi-automatic rifle found at Trump's club.
The document also lists numerous electronic messages sent from a cellphone investigators found in Routh's car. One message dated about two months before his arrest is described as Routh requesting a “missile launcher.” It says that in August 2024, the month before his arrest, Routh sent messages seeking “help ensuring that (Trump) does not get elected" and offering to pay an unnamed person to use flight tracking apps to check the whereabouts of Trump's airplane.
The exhibit list cites evidence from Routh’s phone of an electronic “chat about sniper concealment" during President John F. Kennedy's assassination. And it lists internet searches for how long gunpower residue stays on clothing and articles on U.S. Secret Service responses to assassination plots.
Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary leader, Routh spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous, sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world, witnesses have told The Associated Press.
In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he had a 2002 arrest for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch-long fuse.
In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa tubs. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence.
In addition to the federal charges, Routh also has pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.
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AP journalist Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.
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