(Headline USA) It took just over an hour Tuesday for a jury to find Ryan Routh guilty of trying to assassinate Donald Trump at his Palm Beach golf course last September. And when it did, Routh tried stabbing himself in the neck with a pen, according to reporters in the courtroom.
“As the verdict was read … Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen. Then four Marshals dragged him out of the courtroom, took his coat off, shackled him at the waste and ankles, and then they brought him back into the courtroom,” Fox News reporter Danamarie McNicholl said moments after the incident.
🚨 HOLY CRAP. After Ryan Routh was found guilty of trying to assassinate President Trump, he tried to STAB HIMSELF in the NECK "with a pen."
Then, 4 Marshals dragged him out of the room, shackled him, and brought him back into the courtroom.
The daughter became insanely… pic.twitter.com/q9Hh1fLIlR
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 23, 2025
“When Routh was brought back into the courtroom, that’s when the daughter stood up, started yelling and screaming. She said to her father: ‘Don’t do anything. I’m going to get you out of here!’ She also screamed many expletives.”
Earlier in the day, Routh took 55 minutes of his allotted one hour and 45 minutes, while prosecutors took almost all of their time in closing remarks to the jury, which then received the case for deliberations.
“It’s hard for me to believe that a crime occurred if the trigger was never pulled,” Routh said. He pointed out that he could see Trump as he was on the path toward the sixth-hole green at the golf course. And he noted that he could have also shot the Secret Service agent who confronted him if he had intended to harm anyone.
Awaiting verdict pic.twitter.com/4A3RdCioFh
— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) September 23, 2025
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had warned Routh not to go off track in making his closing remarks. She sent the jury out of the courtroom twice Tuesday morning to remind him of her warning.
Prosecutors have said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the Republican played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.
“There’s no doubt, no reasonable doubt, no doubt whatsoever,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Browne told the jury Tuesday. “If the evidence in this case has shown one thing and one thing only it’s that Ryan Wesley Routh wanted Donald Trump dead.”
Routh, 59, had pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations.
Routh rested his case Monday morning after questioning just three witnesses — a firearms expert and two character witnesses — for a total of about three hours. In contrast, prosecutors spent seven days questioning 38 witnesses.
Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to represent himself following two hearings in July. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have a right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by an attorney. Routh’s former defense attorneys have served as standby counsel since Routh took over his own defense and have been present during trial the past two weeks.
Recounting what happened at the golf course, a Secret Service agent testified earlier in the trial that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot, the agent said.
Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who testified that he saw a person fleeing the area after hearing gunshots. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witness said he confirmed it was the person he had seen.
Just nine weeks earlier, Trump had survived an attempt on his life while campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. That gunman had fired eight shots, with one bullet grazing Trump’s ear. The gunman was then fatally shot by a Secret Service counter sniper.
Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary leader, Routh spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous, sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world, witnesses have told The Associated Press.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
