Legal experts say it may be difficult to prosecute and convict Ryan Routh of the most serious charges related to what the FBI is calling an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Routh, 58, is jailed while awaiting a bond hearing scheduled for Monday. He has been detained on two felony firearms violations as federal and state officials separately weigh a litany of more severe charges, including attempted murder, which can carry a life sentence in Florida.
Proving attempted murder or that Mr. Routh attempted to assassinate Mr. Trump is hardly a slam dunk, said defense lawyer David Tarras of the Fort Lauderdale-based Rossen Law Firm.
Mr. Routh, who the FBI said positioned himself in the bushes near the sixth hole of Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, did not fire any shots from the SKS-style rifle found at the scene. He was spotted several hundred yards away from Mr. Trump, who was playing the course on Sunday. He never had the former president in his line of sight because Mr. Trump had not reached the sixth hole, according to the Secret Service.
“With what we know, with what’s public at this time and what’s in the complaint, I do believe it would be difficult to make out an attempted murder charge, whether it’s using a state statute or a federal statute,” said Mr. Tarras, who defends clients facing federal and state prosecution.
The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida is expected to seek a grand jury indictment of Mr. Routh in the coming weeks. An arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 30.
Federal law enforcement officials said Monday that they are processing evidence, including the rifle, which was equipped with a scope, Mr. Routh’s electronic devices, ceramic tiles and a digital camera in his backpack, which they found hanging on the fence near the sixth hole.
The FBI, which is leading the federal investigation, is scouring Mr. Routh’s social media posts and cellular data, interviewing witnesses and viewing video footage.
Mr. Routh, a convicted felon, left a trail of social media posts expressing a strong dislike of Mr. Trump, support for the Harris-Walz presidential ticket and an obsession with supporting the Ukrainian war against Russia.
“The FBI is continuing its investigation of this incident as an assassination attempt of the former president,” said Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, announced Tuesday that the state would conduct an independent investigation of Mr. Routh’s action and seek state charges as serious as attempted murder.
To escalate the charges to attempted assassination or attempted murder, federal and state officials would have to show that Mr. Routh made plans to try to kill Mr. Trump and took further steps to carry out the crime, Mr. Tarras said.
Cellphone data, the FBI said, showed Mr. Routh in the vicinity of the golf course for 12 hours before a Secret Service agent spotted the muzzle of his rifle protruding from the tree line. The agent fired at him, and a witness saw Mr. Routh flee the scene in his car.
“They have to show that it was more than mere preparation,” Mr. Tarras said. “There has to be a substantial step toward the completion of a crime.”
That substantial step, he said, could be that Mr. Routh set up a sniper’s nest in the bushes near the sixth hole, where a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of his SKS model rifle with scope protruding from the tree line.
“But was he looking down the barrel at anybody?” Mr. Tarras said. “How would they be able to prove that?”
Mr. Parras said Mr. Routh’s defense attorney could seek physical evidence proving that Mr. Routh was lying in wait to shoot, including physical evidence that he was lying in the grass and DNA evidence that he had his hands on the rifle and the trigger.
A defense attorney could question whether Mr. Routh was aiming the gun or just leaning it up against the fence, where the Secret Service agent spotted it.
“As a defense attorney, that’s what I’d be looking for to say that [evidence] didn’t exist, to put reasonable doubt into that,” Mr. Tarras said.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe’s statement Monday that Mr. Routh “did not have a line of sight” to Mr. Trump “is certainly not helpful to any charges of attempted murder of a presidential candidate,” Mr. Tarras said.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said an attempted murder charge requires an intent to kill someone and taking a direct step to commit the crime.
“I think lying in wait for 12 hours with a firearm is enough,” Mr. Rahmani said.
In an interview earlier this week, Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, said an attempted murder charge against Mr. Routh may not stick.
Mr. Aronberg, a Democrat, said a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a Secret Service agent may be the most serious charge that can win a conviction.
“This is not an easy case for an attempted murder charge because you have to not only prepare and plan, you have to have a substantial step towards making it happen. And this guy will have a lot of defenses because he never fired a shot,” Mr. Aronberg told NewsRadio 610 WIOD.
In a statement provided to The Washington Times, Mr. Aronberg said his office would work with federal prosecutors and would not “engage in turf wars” over the case.
If state officials conducting the independent probe ordered by Mr. DeSantis seek charges against Mr. Routh in Palm Beach County, he said, “we will review it like every other matter.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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