Ryan Wesley Routh, the man accused of killing President-elect Donald Trump at his Florida golf course earlier this year, will not stand trial until September 2025, a federal judge ruled Monday.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon postponed Routh’s previously scheduled trial start date of February 10, 2025 to September 8, 2025.
Routh, 58, has pleaded not guilty in the case.
The delay was requested by attorneys for the alleged potential killers, who argued they needed more time to review the evidence against Routh while weighing whether to pursue an insanity defense.
Routh, a native of Hawaii, owned 17 cellphones and several other electronic devices, the contents of which attorneys hope to review.
His legal team has also been given hundreds of hours of police body camera footage and surveillance video to review.
Cannon, who presided over and dismissed Trump’s classified documents case, noted in her order that she agreed that Routh’s attorneys needed more time given the seriousness of the allegations and ruled that a September 2025 trial would not be ” unreasonable delay’.
The judge further ruled that Routh’s attorneys must decide by early February whether to pursue an insanity defense and that any visits to the murder scene must be completed by the end of that month.
Routh faces life in prison if convicted of attempted murder of a leading presidential candidate.
He also faces charges related to assaulting a federal officer and firearms violations.
Prosecutors allege that Routh plotted to kill Trump, 78, for weeks before traveling to West Palm Beach, Florida, and hiding in the bushes outside the Trump International Golf Club on September 15 — with a gun in hand — while 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 gun after being shot and fled the scene unharmed. About 40 minutes later, he was stopped by local police on a Florida highway.
The assassination attempt came two months after Trump was hit in the ear by a sniper’s bullet during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
