Ryan Routh asked a judge on Sunday to postpone his trial until December 2025, arguing he needed more time to prepare a defense against charges that he attempted to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump.
Routh’s request would mark a 10-month delay of the trial, which Judge Aileen Cannon set for February 2025.
“Proceeding with the scheduled trial or anytime soon thereafter – on charges punishable by life imprisonment – would result in a miscarriage of justice,” his defense attorneys wrote.
Routh is facing charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, and gun possession felonies after a Secret Service agent spotted him aiming a loaded rifle toward Trump International Golf Club in Florida while Trump was golfing in September.
Prosecutors revealed in court filings that Routh had a lengthy criminal record and had penned a note addressed to the “world” that he had made “an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.” Authorities also said Routh once came under FBI investigation and that he was a diehard activist for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Routh’s attorneys, both public defenders, noted in the trial delay request that prosecutors had produced “voluminous” discovery in the case and that it “rivals that of the largest cases handled in this District.”
They said they had received from the government five phone company records, thousands of computer files, FBI lab results, drone footage of Trump’s golf course, financial records, social media records, and more. More discovery was still also on the way, they noted.
“Undersigned counsel, and their client, need sufficient time to review the discovery and evaluate potential defenses,” Routh’s attorneys wrote.
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Prosecutors for the Justice Department told Routh they were “amenable” to a modest trial delay but that pushing it back to the end of next year was “unreasonable,” according to Routh’s attorneys.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, scheduled a hearing for this week to discuss the status of the case and the trial schedule, signaling she could set a new trial date as early as this week.
