Left: Ryan Wesley Routh (Law&Crime). Center: U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida). Right: Donald Trump speaks at the annual Road to Majority conference in Washington, DC, in June 2024 (Allison Bailey/NurPhoto via AP).
Donald Trump assassination suspect Ryan Routh, who is accused of attempting to shoot the president last year at one of his golf courses, wants to dump his public defenders and represent himself, telling a federal judge Thursday that he”s not interested in appointing new attorneys ahead of his trial.
“No. I will represent myself,” Routh, 59, told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, according to The Associated Press.
Cannon reportedly closed the courtroom to reporters and the public to discuss matters involving attorney-client privilege, per the AP. The hearing comes after Routh filed a motion Tuesday for a sealed hearing to terminate his counsel.
The document says prosecutors would let the judge determine the “appropriateness” of holding a hearing to terminate Routh’s representation, so long as it did not delay his trial schedule. Thursday’s hearing was slated to continue into the afternoon.
Cannon is now tasked with weighing whether Routh is competent enough to waive his right to be defended by an attorney, with his trial set to begin in September.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
In addition to trying to kill Trump, Routh is also accused of possessing a firearm while a convicted felon and for possessing a gun with an “obliterated serial number,” offenses punishable by up to 15 years and 5 years respectively upon conviction. The Department of Justice says that two people helped illegally obtain a weapon “on his behalf,” specifically the SKS rifle that he allegedly brought to Trump International Golf Club, according to prosecutors.
Trump’s DOJ filed a motion this week asking Cannon to admit into evidence messages authored by Routh’s former employee Tina Cooper, who pleaded guilty on Monday in North Carolina for conspiring with Routh to help get his hands on the weapons. Text messages show how he allegedly asked her to “go shopping for me” before the September 2024 assassination attempt.
In her plea agreement, Cooper admitted that she knew Routh had previously been convicted of a felony and was prohibited from possessing firearms.
More from Law&Crime: ‘You won’t get to see the end of your f—ing term’: Trump assassination threat suspect vowed POTUS, AG would get ‘bullet to the head,’ feds say
Prosecutors say Cooper was also assisted by Ronnie Oxendine, who had crossed paths with Routh professionally over the years, and that Oxendine was the one who actually obtained the gun and gave it to Routh on Cooper’s behalf. Oxendine pleaded guilty on June 10 to being in possession of an unregistered firearm.
“Between July and August 2024, the defendant [Routh] enlisted his longtime employee, Cooper, to obtain firearms for him,” the Tuesday motion says.
“Cooper agreed and conspired with the defendant and her current boss, Ronnie Jay Oxendine, to sell and dispose of a firearm to a prohibited person they both knew (Routh),” according to prosecutors. “Oxendine sold the SKS firearm to Routh at the request of Cooper. Routh told Oxendine (in Cooper’s presence) that he would remove the serial number from the gun so it could not be traced to Oxendine. Routh paid $350 to Oxendine for the rifle. And he paid $100 to Cooper for arranging the deal.”
