A North Carolina man convicted of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump has been ordered to spend the rest of his life behind bars, with additional prison time imposed for firearms violations.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon sentenced 59-year-old Ryan Routh to life in prison and added seven years for a firearm offense, according to Western Journal. Prosecutors argued that Rouths conduct was not only criminal but fundamentally anti-democratic, describing his plot as an effort to override the will of American voters by violence rather than at the ballot box.
Routh, who represented himself during the trial but was assigned counsel for sentencing, attempted to portray himself as a misguided idealist. He told the court he was a good person who had tried to assist Ukraines army, according to Fox News, and had previously told jurors he was only guilty of caring too much, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Judge Cannon rejected that narrative in stark terms, calling Routh an evil man who wanted to kill Trump. In her sentencing memo, Cannon wrote that Rouths actions undeniably warrant a life sentence, according to the BBC, underscoring the gravity of plotting to assassinate a sitting president engaged in a lawful, peaceful activity.
Prosecutors stressed that Routh remains totally unrepentant and cited the heinous nature of this assassination attempt his selfish, violent decision to prevent the American voters from electing President Trump by killing him first that warrants severe criminal punishment, according to NBC News. Routh did not fire at Trump but was discovered hiding in trees with a weapon while the president was playing golf, a scenario that highlighted both premeditation and opportunity.
Defense attorney Martin Roth insisted his client did not commit an act of terrorism and urged the court to impose a 20-year sentence plus the seven-year firearms enhancement. Routh would be in custody into his eighties and would not pose any threat to cause harm to the public, Roth argued, adding that he plans to appeal the sentence, the BBC reported.
Rouths behavior following his conviction further alarmed authorities, as he attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen after the jury returned its guilty verdict. He later asked Judge Cannon to send him to a state that has assisted suicide, since I am a constant failure, and maintained, To merely have a weapon in the presence of another is not intent, a claim the court and prosecutors clearly found incompatible with the evidence and the constitutional imperative to protect elected leaders from politically motivated violence.
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