WEST PALM BEACH, Florida—A federal judge on Monday granted Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors’ request to hold the suspect who the FBI said was trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump last week.
At a federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe agreed with prosecutors’ arguments that Ryan Routh posed a danger to the community, a risk of flight, and should be kept behind bars until his trial on federal weapons charges. The judge cited a handwritten note that prosecutors said was written by Routh declaring that he tried to assassinate Trump, as well as Routh’s travel history to Ukraine.
The judge said he was convinced that substantial evidence showed Routh “stalked” Trump over the past 30 days, citing court records filed Monday showing that Routh’s cellphone was in the vicinity of Trump’s golf course about a month before the Sept. 15 alleged assassination attempt.
Routh’s two public defender lawyers had asked for a $250,000 bond that would be co-signed by his sister, who the defense attorneys said is a lawyer in good standing based in North Carolina. He would agree to stay in his sister’s house, be prepared to undergo a mental health evaluation, and wear a monitoring device, his lawyers said, adding that he has three adult children who live in Hawaii.
Court documents also said that a cellphone apparently used by Routh that was analyzed by the FBI showed that Routh made a Google search of how to travel from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Mexico. Defense lawyers sought to poke holes in prosecutors’ arguments, saying that claims he could be a flight risk were unfounded, and that the Google search was only one instance.
An FBI agent brought in by prosecutors, Christian Hull, said Monday that Routh had no ties to West Palm Beach and had no family there. His defense attorneys responded by saying that the suspect has ties to family in North Carolina.
Routh was charged last week with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Because the FBI has said that it was an assassination attempt, Routh likely faces more charges. Routh also had been been arrested about 100 times and was convicted on felony charges in 2002, prosecutors said.
Officials said that a Secret Service agent spotted Routh’s gun barrel sticking through the perimeter fence of Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, before firing approximately five shots in his direction. Routh was seen by a witness fleeing the scene in an SUV before being captured by sheriff’s deputies one county away.
Prosecutors said that the agent moved behind a tree to reload his service weapon and when he re-emerged, Routh was gone, prosecutors said.
The note cited in court papers Monday was placed in a box dropped off months earlier at the home of an unidentified person who did not open it until after last Sunday’s arrest.
The box also contained ammunition, a metal pipe, building materials, tools, phones, and various letters. The person who received the box and contacted law enforcement was not identified in the Justice Department’s detention memo.
When he was arrested after fleeing the golf course, Routh had a “handwritten list of dates in August, September, and October 2024 and venues where the former President had appeared or was expected to be present,” according to the court paper.
In Monday’s court appearance, Hull said that Routh apparently left a note behind at the scene of the apparent assassination attempt. No handwriting comparison has been conducted yet.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times