Breaking update: The jury has reached a verdict….incoming…
BREAKING: The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of Ryan Routh – the man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 23, 2025
Florida jurors began deliberating on Tuesday in the trial of Trump would-be assassin Ryan Routh.
Last year, federal prosecutors charged Ryan Routh, 59, with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate after he pushed the muzzle of his rifle through the fence line at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course.
Ryan Routh pleaded not guilty to five federal charges stemming from his attempted assassination of President Trump. He is facing life in prison.
Ryan Routh was previously charged with two federal gun crimes: Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession (max penalty of 15 years in prison and $250,000 fine), and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number (max penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine).
Routh set up a sniper’s nest in the shrubbery outside the perimeter of Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach.
In the area of the tree line from which Routh fled, agents found a Go-Pro, two backpacks, a loaded SKS-style, 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope, and a black plastic bag containing food.
One of the backpacks contained ceramic tiles police believe could have been used as a shield/body armor.
In closing statements, after a two-week trial, federal prosecutors said there is ample evidence that Ryan Routh wanted Trump dead.
“This was not a publicity stunt,” Assistant US Attorney Christopher Browne told the jury on Tuesday, according to Fox News. “The evidence has shown one thing and one thing only — the defendant wanted Donald Trump dead,” Browne said, adding that the worst part was that he “almost got away” with it.
Ryan Routh, who represented himself as his own attorney, gave closing arguments on Tuesday and was shut down by Judge Aileen Cannon because he tried to go on a long-winded rant about Trump.
Routh apparently ranted for over 40 minutes before Judge Cannon shut him up.
Excerpt from NBC News:
Jury deliberations got underway Tuesday after Ryan Routh capped his two-week trial, during which he served as his own attorney, by delivering a brief and disjointed closing argument during which he tried to argue that there was no crime because he never fired a shot at Trump.
But just 12 minutes in his monologue, 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.
With the jury out of earshot, Routh then asked Cannon whether the public defenders who initially represented him, Kristy Militello and Renee Michelle Sihvola, could wrap-up his closing argument if the judge interrupted him again.
Cannon said no and when the jury returned Routh argued that “to merely have a weapon in the presence of another does not mean intent.”
But after Routh brought up the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill and began talking about Ukraine, founding father Patrick Henry, and the “common man,” Cannon put a halt to his argument. In total, Routh spoke for about 42 minutes.
DEVELOPING…
Read the full article here