Ryan Wesley Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump at his Florida golf course earlier this year, won’t stand trial until September 2025, a federal judge ruled on Monday.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon pushed back Routh’s previously scheduled Feb. 10, 2025, trial start date to Sept. 8, 2025.
Routh, 58, has pleaded not guilty in the case.
The delay was requested by the alleged would-be assassins lawyers, who argued that they needed more time to assess the evidence against Routh as they weigh whether to pursue an insanity defense.
Routh, a native of Hawaii, owned 17 cellphones and several other electronic devices, the contents of which defense lawyers hope to review.
His legal team has also been given hundreds of hours of police body camera footage and surveillance videos to pore over.
Cannon, who presided over and dismissed Trump’s classified documents case, noted in her order that she agreed Routh’s lawyers needed more time given the gravity of the allegations and ruled that a September 2025 trial would not be an “unreasonable delay.”
The judge further ruled that Routh’s lawyers must decide whether they will mount an insanity defense by early February and that any visits to the site of the assassination attempt must be completed by the end of that month.
Routh is facing life in prison if convicted of the charge of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate.
He also faces charges related to assaulting a federal officer and firearms violations.
Prosecutors claim Routh spent weeks plotting to assassinate Trump, 78, before he traveled to West Palm Beach, Fla., and hid in the bushes outside Trump International Golf Club on Sept. 15 – rifle in hand – as the president-elect played a round of golf.
Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent, who opened fire on him but missed every shot, according to a House assassination task force report released earlier this month.
Routh dropped his rifle after being shot at and fled the scene unharmed. He was apprehended by local law enforcement on a Florida interstate about 40 minutes later.
The assassination attempt came two months after Trump was hit in the ear by a sniper’s bullet during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.
