NEW YORK, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A man who had plotted to assassinate U.S. President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in September 2024 was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison.
Ryan Routh was convicted by a jury last September of five charges, including attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon handed down the sentence in a Florida courtroom, plus a mandatory additional seven years for a firearm offense for Routh.
"It's clear to me that you engaged in a premeditated, calculated plot to take a human life," Cannon said.
Routh, in a court filing, denied any intention to kill, arguing that no crime occurred because he never fired a shot at Trump.
Routh was arrested on Sept. 15, 2024, after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking from the bushes, a few hundred yards from where Trump was golfing at his West Palm Beach golf club. Routh fled the scene, but was arrested shortly after.
The incident occurred two months after a bullet fired by a gunman grazed Trump's ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Both incidents took place in the run-up to the November 2024 election in which Trump regained the presidency after being defeated four years earlier by Democrat Joe Biden. ■