Opening statements will begin on Thursday at Ryan Routh’s criminal trial, the man accused of trying to kill Donald Trump in his golf course last year.
With cases of increasing political violence, the trial is expected to review one of the most high profile of alleged violence aimed at Trump in the reducing days of the 2024 elections.
Prosecutors claim that Routh organized a methodical plan, which includes buying a military degree weapon, investigating Trump’s movements and using a dozen burner phones, to kill Trump according to political complaints.
Hiding in the bushes of the Palm Beach Golf field of Trump and armed with a rifle, Routh allegedly reached a few meters from the then presidential candidate before an agent of the secret service saw his rifle leaving the trees line.
Routh supposedly fled the scene, but was then arrested by a local sheriff office in a nearby interest.
Almost a year after the failed attempted murder, Routh now faces five criminal charges that run the risk of sending him to prison for the rest of his life. Despite lacking education or legal experience, Routh dismissed his lawyers earlier this year and intends to defend himself at the trial.
“I will represent myself in the future; it was ridiculous from the beginning to consider a random stranger who knows nothing who I am to talk for me,” Routh told the Aileen Cannon district judge in a July letter. “I’m very sorry, I know this makes your life more difficult.”
Archive: In this image published by Martin County, Florida, the Sheriff’s Office, the agents of the Law arrest Ryan Routh, the suspicious man in the apparent attempt to murder of Donald Trump, on Sunday, September 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office through AP, Archive)
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Routh’s self -presentation created some problems during the three days of jury selection earlier this week. Judge Cannon, who previously supervised and dismissed one of Trump’s criminal cases, refused to use many of his proposed jury questions, considering them too “political.”
Among other subjects, Routh had proposed to ask jurors about their position on Palestine and Ukraine, and about the acquisition proposed by Trump of Greenland.
Routh has said in judicial presentations that he plans to defend himself by focusing on his self -demonstrated peaceful nature and his care for humanity, partly calling for support to his son and several friends to testify about his character.
Judge Cannon has prohibited him from trying to argue that his alleged actions were justified, that he did not intend to carry out the murder, or that his actions were protected by the rights of the first amendment.
