Overview
- Ryan Routh asked Judge Aileen Cannon to recommend he serve his sentence in a jurisdiction that authorizes medical aid in dying or to facilitate a swap for prisoners held overseas.
- Routh, 59, was convicted in September on five federal counts, including attempted assassination of the president, after representing himself during a 12-day trial.
- He attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen as the guilty verdict was announced, and U.S. Marshals intervened before he was returned to court in restraints.
- Placement decisions for federal inmates rest with the Bureau of Prisons, and judges can only issue nonbinding recommendations; medical aid in dying is permitted in 11 states and Washington, D.C., under strict eligibility rules.
- Prosecutors said a Secret Service agent fired at Routh after spotting him with a rifle through a fence at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course on Sept. 15, 2024; he fled without firing and was arrested on a nearby highway, and he now faces up to life in prison with sentencing set for Dec. 18.