Man accused of Trump assassination attempt in Florida seeks dismissal of some gun charges
Law enforcement officials work outside of the Trump International Golf Club after an apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, Sept. 16, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for a man awaiting trial on federal charges of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump last year at his Florida golf course asked a judge on Wednesday to dismiss the gun-related charges against him and bar a witness identification as “unreliable.”
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Ryan Routh appeared in a Fort Pierce courtroom as Sowmya Bharathi, an assistant federal public defender, went before a judge. Bharathi said two charges Routh faces — possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number — should be dropped under his 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
Routh was convicted of felonies in North Carolina in December 2002 and March 2010, according to court records cited previously by the Department of Justice in a statement announcing his indictment.
Bharathi, however, cited a “deep split” in circuit courts over whether “felons could be wholesale disenfranchised from their 2nd Amendment rights.”
“The government has not shown that this prior conviction would allow Congress to permanently disarm him,” Bharathi told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.
Bharathi continued that even without a serial number on a gun, that does not take away the ability to possess a firearm.
John Shipley, an assistant U.S. attorney, countered by saying the law clearly shows an “absolute consensus” that a firearm with an obliterated serial number is “not a weapon with any lawful purpose.”
“The law is clear with that,” Shipley said. “I don’t think there’s any precedent at all for the position they are asking you to take.”
Routh is also facing charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and assaulting a federal officer. Routh’s trial is set for September. If convicted, he could face a sentence of life in prison, federal officials have said.
Prosecutors have said Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club. Before Trump came into view, Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent. Routh allegedly aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.
Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who prosecutors said informed officers that he saw a person fleeing. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested and the witnesses confirmed it was the person he saw, prosecutors have said.
But Renee Sihvola, a Routh defender, argued that the witness identification is “not reliable” to be used by the government in a jury trial. Sihvola told the judge that the witness did not have a clear view of the fleeing person and initially told officers the suspect was a man in his 20s. Routh is 59 years old.
Sihvola said there’s no information on what conversations officers had with the witness, and said the mounting pressure to find the suspect led to the witness being flown to a closed-off turnpike where Routh was arrested. Sihvola noted that the witness was asked to identify Routh at the time of arrest, two hours afterward and again with an FBI agent showing the witness a photograph six hours later.
“Those two identification procedures are both suggestive,” Sihvola said. “This should not be presented to the jury at all because it’s unreliable.”
Christopher Browne, an assistant U.S. attorney, said the witness was no mere “passerby” and had clearly seen a fleeing person and even sought a closer look at the person and the vehicle they were driving. “There is zero potential for misidentification in this case,” Browne added.