A federal judge on Monday rejected a series of questions that would-be assassin Ryan Routh wanted to pose to potential jurors, ruling the queries were irrelevant as jury selection began in the Florida trial accusing him of laying in wait to shoot former President Donald Trump.
Routh, 59, who is representing himself after dismissing his lawyers, had proposed asking the venire about topics that included pro-Palestinian student activism, Trump’s proposal that the United States take over Greenland and a hypothetical about how a juror would handle a turtle crossing the road while driving. "They are all really off base and have no relevance to the jury selection process," U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said, according to ABC News.
Cannon repeatedly interrupted Routh during courtroom argument, directing him to follow the same procedural rules required of any attorney. She has strongly urged him not to represent himself but allowed him to proceed after he fired his lawyers in July; she has ordered standby counsel to remain available. Routh has pleaded not guilty to five counts that allege he spent about 12 hours on Sept. 15, 2024, in a sniper’s nest near Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla., with an SKS-style rifle. A Secret Service agent scouting ahead of the former president’s golf group saw the rifle, opened fire and Routh fled before he could fire at the former president.
Jury selection will continue this week as Routh and prosecutors work to reduce a pool of roughly 180 potential jurors to 12 regular jurors and four alternates. Opening statements were expected to begin Thursday, and the trial is scheduled to last about a month, court officials said.
At a hearing last week Cannon warned Routh he would be on a tight leash in court and laid out rules governing his behavior and appearance before jurors. She instructed him to wear business attire, to use the lectern when addressing jurors or questioning witnesses and said court marshals would be ready to act if he made any sudden movements — particularly when evidence related to the alleged assassination attempt, including guns and ammunition, was presented. Cannon also told Routh he would be bound by standard trial rules about the scope of questioning and permissible topics.
Routh, a former handyman with no legal training, defended the proposed questions as a way to gauge jurors’ values. He also told the court two of the witnesses he had sought to call would be unavailable: one because of a planned trip abroad and another who he said feared testifying would prompt deportation to Costa Rica.
Prosecutors say Routh was armed and in position outside the golf course where Trump was playing, and he faces a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted. Routh has been held at a federal detention center in Miami since his arrest and has repeatedly filed unconventional court submissions, including a jailhouse letter questioning why his case was not death-penalty eligible and a filing that challenged the president to a high-stakes golf match.
Cannon is the same judge who presided over and later dismissed the criminal case against Trump related to classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, ruling that the special counsel who brought that prosecution had been unlawfully appointed. The dismissal in that unrelated case is separate from the pending charges against Routh.
As voir dire proceeds, the court will apply standard limits on juror questioning to ensure that the panel is not asked to consider matters outside the scope of potential bias or ability to serve impartially. If convicted on the charges related to the alleged assassination attempt, Routh faces significant prison time under federal statutes covering attempted assassination and weapons offenses.
The proceedings are expected to draw attention both because of the high-profile nature of the alleged target and because Routh has chosen to represent himself, a decision that has already led to repeated clashes with courtroom protocol and judicial admonitions.