Would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh gets final court instructions to represent self in upcoming trial

Ryan Routh, who allegedly attempted to assassinate President Trump last year, will represent himself at his trial, with the court giving him instructions Tuesday on his behavior.

Jury selection is set for Monday, barring any delays, in a federal court in Fort Piece, Florida, according to the Associated Press. 

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted Routh's request in July to represent himself but noted that court-appointed attorneys would remain as standby counsel.

“If you make any sudden movements, marshals will take decisive and quick action to respond,” Cannon also said.

Jury selection is expected to take three days, with lawyers questioning three sets of 60 prospective jurors, with the goal of finding 12 jurors and four alternates. 

Opening statements are scheduled to begin Sept. 11, with prosecutors set to start their case immediately after that. The court has set aside four weeks for the trial, but attorneys expect that less time will be needed.

The trial is set to begin nearly a year after prosecutors say a U.S. Secret Service agent thwarted Routh’s attempt to shoot Trump as he played golf in Florida. Routh, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, and several firearm violations.

Prosecutors have said Routh planned to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, at his West Palm Beach country club.

Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who had moved to Hawaii in recent years. He was a self-styled mercenary leader, and spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous, sometimes violent, plans to insert himself into world conflicts, witnesses told the AP.

At the beginning of Russia's war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, N.C., he was arrested in 2002 for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which was an explosive.

Police in 2010 searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa tubs. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence.

Routh has also pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder, in addition to the federal charges.