Federal prosecutors on Wednesday asked Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon for an indefinite delay in scheduling the trial of Ryan Wesley Routh, the would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump.
In a court filing obtained by ABC News, prosecutors requested the judge officially designate Routh's case as "complex," citing the massive amount of evidence they've gathered in the 17 days since he was arrested after staking out Trump's Florida golf course in an apparent assassination attempt.
"Over the past two weeks, the United States has interviewed hundreds of witnesses," prosecutors said in the filing. "It has also executed 13 search warrants in Florida, Hawaii, and North Carolina, and seized hundreds of items of evidence, including multiple electronic devices."
There are more than 100 outstanding subpoena returns connected to the case and investigators estimated in the filing that they have "thousands of videos to review" from the electronic devices seized so far.
"All videos, still images, text files, and audio files constitute approximately 4,000 terabytes (4 million gigabytes) of digital review to complete," the filing says.
The FBI is also conducting forensics testing, including "ballistics testing, and fingerprint and DNA comparisons," which will likely require that they prepare expert witnesses for Routh's eventual trial.
The filing reportedly noted that Routh's defense team did not oppose the government's request for an indefinite trial postponement.
Routh, 58, was arraigned in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday on attempted assassination charges. His attorneys entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.
He had previously been charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number in the Sept. 15 incident.
According to investigators, Trump was playing golf that Sunday morning when a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking out from the bushes near the sixth hole at Trump International Golf Club.
When the agent opened fire in the direction of the rifle, Routh fled the scene in his SUV. He was later arrested on I-95.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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