(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The man convicted of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at his Palm Beach golf course in September 2024 has asked for a lenient sentence. While the government seeks life imprisonment, Ryan Routh’s attorney has asked for 20 years.
In a Thursday motion for a downward departure from sentencing guidelines, Routh’s attorney, Martin Roth, said his client denies he acted with the intent to kill a presidential candidate. Nor did Routh’s actions necessarily constitute terrorism, Roth argued.
Even so, Roth admitted that sentencing guidelines call for his client to spend life in prison. Nevertheless, Roth asked for a downward variance for Routh, who is 60 years old.
“A term of 20 years, followed by the required 7-year mandatory sentence required by Count two would be sufficient to meet the need for punishment, provide the defendant with correctional treatment and provide for mental health treatment in a custodial setting,” Roth said. “Defendant would be in custody into his eighties and would not pose any threat to cause harm to the public.”
NEW: Ryan Routh’s attorney has asked Judge Cannon to sentence the would-be Trump assassin to just 20 years. Routh would be 80 and no threat when he’s released, the lawyer argued.
Routh’s sister also asked Cannon to send him to a low-security facility instead of a supermax. pic.twitter.com/WBEPWHcl0n— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) January 16, 2026
Attached to Roth’s motion were three letters in support of Routh: one from his sister, Nancy Meyers; another from his son, Adam Routh; and a third from his childhood mentor, retired US Army Colonel Michael Kelly.
Kelly, a Trump supporter, said he first met Routh when he joined his Boy Scouts troop in the 70s. Ryan was a bright boy at the time, and Kelly said he didn’t know when and how Routh went astray.
Adam, meanwhile, said Routh was a good father to him, while the sister, Myers, said Routh was a protective brother.
Myers, who said she was a litigation attorney with 30 years of experience, asked Judge Aileen Cannon to send Routh to the low-security facility at Federal Correctional Institute Butner—as opposed to a supermax facility, which is where he could be headed if his crimes are deemed federal terrorism. FCI Butner would be near his family in North Carolina, and “would be the most appropriate for Ryan’s needs given the intensive care, counseling, and rehabilitation of mental health needs offered there.”
Routh is set to be sentenced on Feb. 4.
On Sept. 15, 2024, a Secret Service agent spotted Routh hiding in the bushes with an SKS-style rifle at Trump’s Palm Beach golf course. The agent shot at Routh five times—missing but causing him to flee the scene. Routh was caught some 45 minutes later on the I-95. During the traffic stop, a woman named Norka Pardo was driving with her 6-year-old girl, Mia Rosalie Monreal, and she crashed into the backed-up traffic.
Monreal suffered debilitating brain injuries as a result. Months later, doctors were still trying to restart her brain, according to the mother.
“She was not responding, she’s not waking up at all, so they have to kind of help her out and give her medication to help her brain restart,” the mother told local media last January. “She’s kind of opening her eyes, closing to fall asleep, opening her eyes but there was no response.”
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
