A Florida court has sentenced Ryan Routh, 59, to life in prison for attempting to assassinate Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Routh was convicted last year of attempting to kill Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September 2024, when Trump was still a presidential candidate.

According to court testimony, a US Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel protruding from nearby bushes and immediately fired at Routh. Routh fled the scene but was arrested shortly afterward.

Ryan Routh (photo by Reuters)

In her sentencing memorandum, US District Judge Aileen Cannon said Routh’s actions “undeniably warrant a life sentence.”

“He took steps over the course of months to assassinate a major presidential candidate, demonstrated the will to kill anybody in the way, and has since expressed neither regret nor remorse,” the judge wrote.

Routh’s attorney, Martin Ross, confirmed that an appeal will be filed.

Routh pleaded not guilty and chose to represent himself during the trial, which began on 8 September. A native of North Carolina who had been living in Hawaii prior to his arrest, Routh displayed erratic behaviour throughout the proceedings, at times challenging Trump to a game of golf and making references to Adolf Hitler and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

After the jury returned a guilty verdict, Routh attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen before being restrained and escorted out of the courtroom by US marshals.

Although investigators said Routh never had a clear line of sight to Trump, jurors were told that federal agents recovered a semi-automatic rifle with a scope and extended magazine from the location where he had been hiding.

Prosecutors also presented evidence showing Routh left behind a list of locations where Trump was expected to appear, along with a note to a friend describing the incident as “an assassination attempt.”