Suspected would-be presidential assassin Ryan Routh will represent himself at federal trial
A day after suspected would-be presidential assassin Ryan Wesley Routh refused to meet with his court-appointed defense attorney at a federal lockup in Miami, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon approved Routh’s motion to proceed to trial as a pro se defendant representing himself.
Routh, 59, of Greensboro, N.C., faces Sept. 8 jury selection in his trial on five federal counts charging him with aiming a sniper rifle through a fence and trying to kill President Donald J. Trump on Sept. 15, 2024, at Trump’s West Palm Beach, Fla., golf resort.
‘The attorney-client relationship is irreconcilably broken.’
Routh wrote a letter to Judge Cannon, entered on the court docket July 11, complaining bitterly about his federal public defenders and stating that it’s “best I walk alone.” The judge held Faretta hearings on July 10 and July 24 before ruling in an eight-page order that Routh can proceed as his own attorney.
The judge ordered federal public defenders Kristy Militello and Renee Sihvola to serve on the case as standby counsel.
Militello filed a motion with the court to withdraw from the case after she said Routh repeatedly refused to meet with her for their scheduled July 22 consultation at the Federal Correctional Institution-Miami.
“While undersigned counsel was on the train to Miami, BOP [Bureau of Prisons] legal staff emailed to advise that Mr. Routh refused our scheduled, in-person legal visit,” Militello wrote. “Undersigned counsel continued our trip to the detention center in Miami and upon arrival asked BOP staff to inform Mr. Routh that his counsel was present, in person, and wished to meet with him.”
Six refusals
“Mr. Routh has now refused six attempts from members of our office/the defense team to meet with Mr. Routh,” Militello wrote. “As a result, undersigned counsel submits that the attorney-client relationship is irreconcilably broken. It is clear that Mr. Routh wishes to represent himself, and he is within his Constitutional rights to make such a demand.”
Judge Cannon issued a four-page order warning Routh that he will be required to follow Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence, and local rules for the federal Southern District of Florida.
“A pro-se defendant bears responsibility for actively preparing the case for trial and exercising control over his defense, and must obtain any essential discovery, file all necessary pleadings and motions, and comply with all scheduling orders and Court instructions,” Judge Cannon wrote.
The judge warned that “any vexatious, obstructionist, or obstreperous behavior or other misconduct may result in an order revoking defendant’s pro-se status, along with any other sanctions the court deems appropriate.”
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Federal prosecutors filed a motion in limine on July 8 expressing concern that Routh sought to “turn this trial into a circus.” The government seeks to limit how the defense can proceed in accordance with standard rules of evidence, especially Routh’s expected attempt to litigate his character before trial begins.
Prosecutors called out Routh’s “odd claim” that the government has not identified “specific pieces of evidence at issue.”
“As outlined below,” prosecutors wrote in a July 24 filing, “to the best of our ability lacking a defense exhibit list, we have done so. And our arguments are more persuasive in light of the defendant’s decision to represent himself — this court has a responsibility to ensure that trial does not become a circus and that the jury is not burdened and distracted by plainly inadmissible evidence.”
Prosecutors said the defense has “refused to inform the court of matters as simple as whether Routh was at the golf course on September 15, 2024.”
The FBI said Routh set up a sniper’s lair just outside the fence of the Trump International Golf Club and lay in wait for nearly 12 hours with a “military-grade” SKS 7.62x39-caliber rifle aimed toward the sixth green. President Trump was playing the fifth fairway on Sept. 15 when a Secret Service agent doing an advance sweep saw a rifle poking through the chain-link fence. The agent opened fire after determining that the rifle was pointed at him.
Routh fled the area at 1:31 p.m. without taking a shot at President Trump, the FBI said. He reportedly took off north in a Nissan SUV with stolen plates on Interstate 95. Routh was stopped and arrested by officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office at 2:14 p.m.
Two attempts in 64 days
This attempted assassination was the second attempt on President Trump’s life in a little more than two months.
Would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks somehow got onto a slightly pitched roof of a building overlooking the Butler County Farm Show grounds in Pennsylvania on July 13 and fired eight rifle shots at the stage of a Trump rally, striking Trump in the right ear, killing firefighter Corey Comperatore, and seriously wounding David Dutch and James Copenhaver. A Secret Service counter-sniper shot and killed Crooks.
Both cases led to a flurry of investigations that savaged the Secret Service for alleged inept communication, failure to share credible threat information, and negligence in failing to staff the Butler event with counter-surveillance teams and drones capable of shooting down potential aerial threats aimed at the president.
The Secret Service was also pilloried for failure to adequately screen the Trump golf club in West Palm Beach, such as patrolling the perimeter with agents or overhead drones. The Secret Service failures at the time led to calls for then-candidate Trump to replace his Secret Service detail with private armed security.
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Judge Cannon’s order not only ruled against the DOJ but eviscerated the department for its litigation strategy.
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It would be outrageous for AG Garland to continue to push for the release of the special counsel's report.
Only time will tell, but one thing is certain: Time is running out for the last vestiges of lawfare against Trump.
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