Federal prosecutors requested an indefinite delay Wednesday in scheduling the trial for the man charged in an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course last month, citing a massive amount of evidence they’ve gathered in the 17 days since Ryan Routh’s arrest.
In a filing Wednesday afternoon requesting Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon officially designate Routh’s case as “complex,” prosecutors revealed new details about the scope of evidence they’ve amassed as they try to further gain insight into Routh’s actions leading up to his suspected attempt to kill Trump.
“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.”
Investigators reportedly have more than 100 outstanding subpoena returns in connection with the investigation, the filing states, and they estimate they have “thousands of videos to review” from the large volume of electronic devices seized thus 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.
Booking photo obtained on September 19, 2024, from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office in Florida, shows the mugshot of Ryan Wesley Routh.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office/AFP via Getty Images
The FBI also continues to conduct forensic tests on other evidence, including “ballistics testing, and fingerprint and DNA comparisons,” which will likely require them to prepare several expert witnesses to testify about in advance of Routh’s eventual trial.
The filing states Routh’s defense attorneys did not oppose the government’s request to indefinitely delay his trial date.
Routh, 58, appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday for his arraignment on attempted assassination charges. Routh’s lawyers entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Routh had previously been charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number for the incident that took place at Trump International Golf Club on Sept. 15.
On the day of the alleged attempted assassination, Trump was playing golf on the course when a Secret Service agent spotted a gun barrel poking out from the tree line near the sixth green, according to investigators.
The agent then fired in the direction of the rifle and saw Routh fleeing the area and entering his nearby vehicle, according to the criminal complaint filed in the case.
