(THE CENTER SQUARE) – The man prosecutors accused of stalking former President Donald Trump for a month before he built a sniper’s nest near the Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach pleaded not guilty to attempted assassination of a presidential candidate.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, waived formal reading of the indictment on Monday and entered a plea of not guilty. He spent three minutes in the courtroom, according to a docket entry. Federal prosecutors charged Routh, of Hawaii, with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.
An FBI agent detailed in court documents the inside of the alleged gunman’s sniper nest where prosecutors said he waited for hours with a scope-fitted rifle. A photo of the nest showed two bags hanging from a fence off the sixth hole. An FBI agent said the bags contained plates that could stop small arms fire. In between the two bags was an SKS rifle with a scope. Agents matched a fingerprint on the rifle to Routh.
