News Treasure Coast Region St Lucie County Fort Pierce

Actions

Ryan Routh: Trial starts for man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump

Panel of 12 jurors, 4 alternates sworn in Wednesday

Ryan Wesley Routh sketch for federal court hearing held Sept. 23, 2024.

Lothar Speer, NBC News Channel

By: David Fischer

Posted

and last updated

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Prosecutors, other attorneys and observers assembled in a federal courtroom Thursday for the start of opening statements in the trial of a man charged with trying to assassinate President Donald Trump while he played golf near West Palm Beach last year, when he was campaigning for a second term.

Ryan Routh is representing himself after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon agreed to let him dismiss his court-appointed attorneys. They are, however, standing by in the courtroom if needed.

Jury selected for Ryan Routh trial in Trump assassination attempt

He has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations.

Until this week, Routh has appeared at hearings shackled at the wrists and ankles and dressed in a tan jail jumpsuit. But with jurors present, Routh has been unrestrained and dressed in a sport coat and tie. Cannon has said that Routh will be allowed to address jurors and witnesses from a podium, but he will not have free rein of the courtroom.

A panel of 12 jurors and four alternates was sworn in Wednesday, at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida. There are four white men, one Black man, six white women, and one Black woman on the jury, and the alternates are two white men and two white women. The panel was selected from a pool of 180 potential jurors.

The trial begins nearly a year after prosecutors say a Secret Service agent thwarted his attempt to shoot the Republican presidential nominee. It's expected to run two or three weeks. The trial's start comes as police search for the gunman who killed conservative influencer Charlie Kirk at a campus in Utah on Wednesday in what political leaders are calling an assassination.

Prospective juror takes photo of Ryan Routh

Prosecutors have said Routh, 59, 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.

Just nine weeks earlier, Trump had survived another attempt on his life while campaigning in Pennsylvania. That gunman had fired eight shots, with one bullet grazing Trump’s ear, before being shot by a Secret Service counter sniper.

Cannon is a Trump-appointed judge who drew scrutiny for her handling of a criminal case accusing Trump of illegally storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. The case became mired in delays as motions piled up over months, and was ultimately dismissed by Cannon last year after she concluded that the special counsel tapped by the Justice Department to investigate Trump was illegally appointed.

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 was arrested in 2002 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 fuse.

More of WPTV's coverage of Trump assassination attempt below: