Federal prosecutors on Friday rested their case in opposition to Ryan Routh, the person accused of making an attempt to kill Donald Trump on his Florida golf course final yr.
Routh, who’s representing himself regardless of not being an lawyer, plans to name three witnesses on Monday for his protection case, together with character witnesses and a firearms skilled.
Prosecutors’ ultimate witness on Friday was FBI Supervisory Particular Agent Kimberly McGreevy, who used receipts to indicate that Routh spent the final month previous to the incident dwelling in a fuel station within the Palm Seaside County space whereas conducting surveillance.
Prosecutors allege that Routh put collectively a methodical plan — together with buying a military-grade weapon, researching Trump’s actions, and using a dozen burner telephones — to kill Trump based mostly on political grievances.
Hiding within the bushes of Trump’s Palm Seaside golf course and armed with a rifle, Routh allegedly got here inside a few hundred yards of the then-presidential nominee earlier than a Secret Service agent noticed his rifle poking out of the tree line.
Routh allegedly fled the scene however was later arrested by an area sheriff’s workplace on a close-by interstate.
On this imaged launched by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Workplace, legislation enforcement officers arrest Ryan Routh, the person suspected within the obvious assassination try of Donald Trump, Sept. 15, 2024.
Martin County Sheriff’s Workplace by way of AP, FILE
He faces 5 felony prices, together with tried assassination of a significant presidential candidate, utilizing a firearm in furtherance of against the law, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm as a felon, and utilizing a gun with a defaced serial quantity.
U.S. District Choose Aileen Cannon — who beforehand oversaw and dismissed considered one of Trump’s criminal cases — has barred Routh from making an attempt to argue that his alleged actions have been justified, that he didn’t intend to hold out the assassination, or that his actions have been protected by First Modification rights.
