The man suspected of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump in September has requested the eyewitness testimony placing him at the scene of the crime be suppressed.
Ryan Wesley Routh has been accused by prosecutors of trying to assassinate Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate while the president was golfing on September 14, 2024. Routh had been identified by an eyewitness known as "T.C.M." in court documents. Lawyers for Routh filed a 13-page court filing on Monday, saying T.C.M.'s testimony should be ruled inadmissible since the witness "identified Mr. Routh as the perpetrator through impermissibly suggestive means."
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the South District of Florida has argued that Routh aimed a rifle through bushes at then candidate Trump while he was golfing at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Just prior to the president coming into a line of sight, Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent, and Routh then attempted to flee, according to prosecutors. Routh, then 58, was apprehended by Marin County deputy sheriffs some 40 miles north of Palm Beach close to an hour later.
The witness told police he heard gunshots coming from the golf course and then saw a 6-foot-2-inch disheveled white male with light-colored hair, according to the filing. A detective from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said T.C.M. described the man "as a younger male in his twenties." Routh's legal team said that although T.C.M. heard gunshots and saw someone fleeing the golf course, his description of the suspect did not match Routh.
Routh's defense team has claimed the arresting police were "impermissibly suggestive" when questioning T.C.M, who was allegedly shown a single photograph of Routh taken soon after he had been detained. The defense claim "irreparable misidentification" would occur and have asked a judge to exclude the witness identification of Routh from the trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 8, 2025. The defense argued that the testimony would be "constitutionally inadmissible" in court.
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice filed a new report aiming to paint Routh as a motivated assassin that said Routh attempted to obtain a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) from someone he thought was a Ukrainian arms dealer. "Send me an RPG or Stinger, and I will see what we can do," Routh allegedly wrote on a social messaging app. "Trump is not good for Ukraine."
The DOJ filings also cite a letter in which Routh wrote, "It is up to you now to finish the job. I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job."
Routh's alleged assassination attempt was the second such effort to take Trump's life following the July 13 attempt by Thomas Crooks in Butler, Pennsylvania.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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