(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Judge Aileen Cannon ruled over the weekend that the Justice Department is allowed to use the testimony of a witness who purportedly saw Ryan Routh flee the Palm Beach golf course after unsuccessfully trying to assassinate President Donald Trump on Sept. 15.
“The show-up identification procedure was not unduly suggestive, and in any event, the show-up identification was reliable under the totality of the circumstances,” Judge Cannon said in a ruling Saturday.
Routh’s attorneys had filed a motion in April to exclude testimony from a witness identified in court records as “T.C.M.” According to Routh’s attorneys, the FBI manipulated the witness into identifying their client as the man who fled Donald Trump’s Florida golf course after a Secret Service agent spotted him hiding in the nearby bushes.
On Saturday, Judge Cannon rejected Ryan Routh's arguments that the FBI tainted the witness who purportedly saw him fleeing Trump's golf course last September.
The DOJ is now allowed to present the witness's testimony as evidence. Judge Cannon did clarify that the defense will be… https://t.co/6CYVGNWKu3 pic.twitter.com/FywjJhRMMk— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) May 26, 2025
“Six hours later, FBI agents interviewed T.C.M. They showed him a single photograph of Ryan Routh and asked him to identify him as the male he saw running near the area of the gun shots. T.C.M. agreed that was the man from this single photo line-up,” the defense said.
According to the defense, the manner in which local and federal law enforcement handled the witness was highly manipulative.
“A show-up is inherently suggestive because the police present a single suspect to a witness thereby increasing the likelihood of misidentification. Here, the police exacerbated the suggestiveness of this procedure by presenting a suspect bound in handcuffs, in a police car, and surrounded by law enforcement,” defense attorneys argued.
“Second, following the show-up, the FBI conducted an improper photographic procedure by showing T.C.M. a single photograph of Mr. Routh. Consequently, the FBI also led T.C.M. to believe that Mr. Routh was the one, and only, suspect. These repeated, suggestive procedures created a substantial likelihood of misidentification, for which the introduction would violate Mr. Routh’s right to Due Process,” they said.
The defense further noted that T.C.M. described the man who fled Trump’s golf course as being in his 20s, while Routh was 58 at the time of the crime.
T.C.M.’s memory has been “tainted” by law enforcement’s actions, they argued.
But Judge Cannon rejected those arguments on Saturday.
“T.C.M. had sufficient opportunity to view the fleeing Defendant, as reflected by his near contemporaneous documentation of distinguishable details as he observed Defendant and then followed his vehicle. T.C.M. took photos and a video of the male’s vehicle and wrote down details of both the vehicle and the male, reflecting a significant degree of attention,” Cannon said.
Cannon added that Routh’s attorneys will still have the opportunity to cross-examine T.C.M. and make “appropriate” arguments to the jury regarding any doubts as to the accuracy of the identification.
Routh is set to stand trial in September.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
