Ryan Routh wants assassination case against Trump dropped

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump when he was running for president last year has asked a judge to dismiss some of the charges against him.

Prosecutors say Ryan Routh was planning an assassination attempt before he was detected by a Secret Service agent at Trump’s West Palm Beach club in September. Routh has pleaded not guilty.

At a hearing in federal court here on Wednesday, Routh’s defense lawyers argued that two of the charges against him should be dismissed because they violate his Second Amendment rights. Routh is accused of illegally owning a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Federal public defender Sonia Fahrezi told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that recent court decisions show, “The Second Amendment doesn’t just apply to law-abiding citizens.” Routh has two prior felony convictions, including one for illegally possessing dynamite. Fahrezi says those convictions should not preclude him from exercising his constitutional right to own a firearm. And she said, “The absence of a serial number doesn’t remove a firearm from the Second Amendment text.”

Justice Department prosecutor John Shipley said the statute that prohibits felons from possessing firearms is still law. And he said, “A firearm with an obliterated serial number has no lawful purpose.”

Judge Cannon was appointed by President Trump. She’s the same judge who dismissed charges against the president for mishandling classified documents at his home in Mar-a-Lago.

In addition to the felony gun counts, Routh faces three other charges, including attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate.

Routh has been in federal custody since his arrest in September. A Secret Service agent who was part of Trump’s security detail says he saw a gun barrel poking from the tree line a few holes ahead of where the then-presidential candidate was golfing. The agent fired at the person holding the gun. A man later identified as Routh fled the scene and was arrested a short time later driving north on Interstate-95.

On Wednesday, Routh’s lawyers asked Judge Cannon to suppress the testimony of the witness who identified their client as the person who was seen running from Trump’s golf club.

Two hours after the incident, the witness, identified in court by his initials, TCM, was flown by helicopter to a location on I-95. Routh’s lawyer Renee Sihvola said, he saw from the helicopter the traffic stopped on the interstate, and was taken by car to a location where he was presented with a single suspect, a handcuffed Routh. The defense says that was “impermissibly suggestive” and created a “substantial likelihood” that he was misidentified.

Sihvola asked Judge Cannon to order a hearing to explore how Routh was identified as the person TCM saw running from the golf club. Sihvola said, “The totality of the circumstances suggest it was unreliable.”

Prosecutor Christopher Browne told the judge the witness, TCM, was a “good Samaritan” who heard gunshots and made a U-turn in his vehicle to get a better look at the person he saw running from the golf club. “There is zero potential for misidentification in this case, “he said.

Prosecutors also asked the judge to exclude Routh’s lawyers from arguing their client lacked the mental or physical capacity to pose a real threat to Trump.

The SKS-style rifle left at the scene wasn’t fired and had a scope attached to it in a makeshift manner using electrical tape. Routh’s lawyers want their own experts to testify on how well or whether it would have worked if fired at Trump that day. The judge granted a defense request to conduct a live-fire test of the weapon, but said it could not be tested for range or accuracy.

Routh’s trial is set to begin in September.