(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Justice Department has opposed a request from the attorneys of alleged would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh to test-fire his rifle, arguing that the rifle’s operability has nothing to do with the fact that he willfully attempted to assassinate the President.
“Routh’s ‘complete defense’ claim rests on the idea that it might have been factually impossible for him to assassinate the President with this rifle, and therefore he must explore this idea. But impossibility, or a defendant’s inability to execute his plan, is not a defense to an attempt crime,” prosecutors said in a Friday court filing, which cited case law: “A defendant’s culpability for a charge of attempt depends only on the circumstances as he believes them to be, not as they really are.”
Prosecutors further noted an FBI munitions expert already successfully test-fired the rifle, and has provided his expert report to the defense as part of discovery.
“Moreover, the Defendant has not proffered any good faith basis for suggesting the rifle was inoperable when Routh had it—or today, six months later,” they added.
UPDATE: In a Friday court filing, the DOJ opposed Ryan Routh's motion to test-fire his rifle —- arguing that the rifle's operability has nothing to do with the crime he's charged with.
Here, I think the DOJ is probably right. There are countless stings operations where the FBI… https://t.co/vxB2dvIFqS pic.twitter.com/dKFrykswW5— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 6, 2025
Prosecutors said they would be fine allowing defense attorneys to photograph the rifle and examine it again. But they asked Judge Aileen Cannon to deny Routh’s motion to test-fire the weapon. They said they plan to file another motion that addresses the matter on Monday.
Prosecutors were responding to a motion from Routh that accuses the FBI of tainting evidence in his case by disassembling the rifle—making it impossible to determine its accuracy or usefulness the day he allegedly tried killing Trump last September at his Florida golf course.
“The scope, black tape, brackets, and paper/plastic tubing were all removed from the rifle. Defense counsel does not know the exact circumstances surrounding the removal of these items from the scope, as those items were apparently boxed separately from the rifle and not made available for our evidence view,” defense attorneys Kristy Militello and Renee Sihvola said in a March 28 court filing.
The defense attorneys said that the FBI has “irreparably harmed” their case by disassembling the rifle.
“For example, it is now impossible for the defense to test whether the scope was attached in a wildly inaccurate or useless fashion, as it was taken off the rifle prior to any accuracy testing or location preservation by the government,” they said.
Prosecutors have accused Routh, 58, of Hawaii, of stalking Trump for a month before he built a sniper’s nest near the Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach.
Federal prosecutors charged Routh with possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, assault on a Secret Service agent, and attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.
Routh’s trial is set for September.
The FBI also tainted evidence in the other assassination attempt against Trump last July. In that incident, the FBI hosed down the rooftop used by gunman Thomas Crooks immediately after the incident, and released Crooks’s body for cremation before members of Congress could examine it. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., later revealed that bullet fragments were still in Crooks’s body when it was cremated.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
