Man sentenced to life in prison for trying to shoot Trump at Florida golf course

A convicted person Trying to assassinate President Donald Trump He was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday (Feb 4, 2026) after a federal prosecutor said his conviction on a Florida golf course in 2024 was inadmissible “in this country or anywhere.”

US District Judge Eileen Cannon announced the fate of Ryan Routh in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that caused chaos in September when he tried to stab himself shortly after a jury found him guilty on all counts.

“American democracy doesn’t work when individuals take it into their own hands to eliminate candidates. That’s what this individual tried to do,” Assistant US Attorney John Shipley told the judge.

Defense attorney Martin L. Roth argued that “at the moment of truth, he chose not to pull the trigger.”

The judge pushed back, noting Routh’s history of arrests, which Mr. Roth said, “He’s a complicated guy, I’ll give that to the court, but he has a very good core.”

Routh then read from a rambling, 20-page statement. Mrs. Cannon interjected, saying that none of what he was saying was relevant, and gave him five more minutes to speak.

“I did my best and lived a good life,” Routh said before the judge cut him off.

“Your plot to kill was deliberate and evil,” she said. “You are not a peaceful person, you are not a good person.”

She then handed down his sentence: life without parole, plus seven years on the gun charge. His sentence for his other three offenses will run concurrently.

In a statement on social media platform X, US Attorney General Pam Bondi thanked prosecutors for ensuring that Routh “will never walk free again.”

“President Trump’s brazen attempt at Ryan Routh is not only an attack on our president – it’s a direct attack on our entire democratic system,” Mr Bondi said.

Routh’s sentencing was originally scheduled for December. However, Ms. Canon Routh agreed to move it back after deciding to use a lawyer during the sentencing phase, instead representing him for further proceedings.

Routh was charged with attempted assassination of a leading presidential candidate, use of a firearm in furtherance of a felony, assault on a federal officer, possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number.

“Routh is unrepentant for his crimes, has never apologized for the lives he endangered, and his life demonstrates a complete disregard for the law,” prosecutors said in their sentencing memo.

His lawyers had asked for a mandatory seven years plus 20 years for the firearms conviction.

“The accused is two weeks short of turning sixty,” said Mr. Roth wrote in the filing. “A just sentence provides for a sentence that is sufficient but not long enough to impose a high sentence and allow the defendant to enjoy freedom again rather than die in prison.”

Prosecutors said Routh plotted for weeks to kill Mr. Trump before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as the Republican presidential candidate played golf at his West Palm Beach country club on Sept. 15, 2024.

At trial, a Secret Service agent helping protect Mr. Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted Routh before Mr. Trump noticed him. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who fired, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.

In a motion requesting a lawyer, Routh offered to trade his life in a prisoner exchange for people wrongfully held in other countries and said he still had an offer for Mr. Trump to “take out his frustration on my face.”

“Just a quarter of an inch back and we wouldn’t all have to deal with all this mess,” Routh wrote. “But I always fail in everything (par for the course),” he added.