Attorneys for Ryan Wesley Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate then-presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump, have asked a federal judge to delay his trial until at least December 2025 because of the amount of evidence to be examined.
Judge Aileen Cannon had set a February 2025 trial date in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The next day, Cannon requested a response from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is prosecuting Routh, and directed both sides to be prepared for a hearing on the motion on Dec. 11.
Routh’s motion focuses on the volume of documents and expert testimony. It notes that the DOJ requested on Dec. 5 a second, one-terabyte hard drive for additional discovery.
So far, the discovery has included electronic data downloaded from 18 phones, expert analyses, electronic data from multiple tablets and laptops, video surveillance, financial records, about 3,000 photographs, travel records, and other items.
“Reading thousands of pages of materials, watching untold hours of video, and analyzing tens of thousands of digital pages of information will require many months,” Routh’s attorneys said.
“After a substantial portion of the discovery is reviewed, then counsel will need to schedule scene inspections and evidence inspections/views,” they stated. “Defense experts need to be retained to evaluate and analyze portions of the discovery as well.
“A trial date of December 2025 affords the defense approximately one year from the start of the receipt of discovery to prepare and is in keeping with the scheduling of large cases in this district, which are often set one year out for trial.”
According to Routh’s motion, the DOJ said it was amenable to delaying the trial but not until December 2025.
To do so would be “unreasonable given that much of the discovery is the defendant’s, that stipulations are available to reduce areas of trial preparation, that the Crime Victims’ Rights Act entitles victims to a trial free from unreasonable delay, and the Defendant’s documented attempt, as the Government sees it, to influence the jury pool,” the DOJ stated.
Routh’s attorneys responded by stating, among other things, that they had “not yet reviewed any discovery that would support the claim that the defendant is attempting to influence the jury pool.”
Cannon has overseen two cases involving Trump, including his classified documents case, which she dismissed in July over the legality of special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment.
Routh, 58, has been charged with attempted assassination, along with other counts such as assaulting a Secret Service agent.
