A Florida man accused of attempting to assassinate President Trump will deliver his closing argument Tuesday, as will the prosecution.
Ryan Routh, acting as his own defense, called three witnesses to the stand Monday — a firearms expert and two character witnesses.
During questioning, Judge Aileen Cannon stopped Routh for not following court protocol and said the defendant “crossed the line several times,” according to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network. The 59-year-old also told Cannon that he will not testify Tuesday, concluding his defense.
Routh is able to defend himself under the Sixth Amendment and the Supreme Court’s 1975 opinion in Faretta v. California, which stated that a defendant “competently and intelligently waive his Constitutional right to assistance of counsel.”
Cannon signed off on Routh’s motion to defend himself in July, but appointed two federal public defenders as standby counsel.
Prosecutors, who questioned 38 witnesses, have alleged that Routh plotted to kill Trump for weeks. They also accuse Routh of pointing a rifle through trees at the president while he was golfing at his club in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sept. 15, 2024. After a Secret Service agent fired a shot at Routh, the man fled the scene in a car without firing a shot, before being arrested by Palm Beach and Martin County officers roughly 45 minutes later.
The trial began Sept. 8, with the 12-person jury finalized two days later. The prosecution concluded its case on Friday.
Routh pleaded not guilty to five federal charges, including attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
He also has been with terrorism and attempted murder at the state level.
The assassination attempt came just over two months after Trump was shot in the ear in Butler, Penn., days before the Republican National Convention. The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was fatally shot by a Secret Service officer seconds after firing eight times in the direction of the president.
A Pennsylvania man, Corey Comperatore, was killed in the shooting, while two others were injured.
