Ryan Routh, the man sentenced last month for trying to assassinate President Donald Trump during last year’s presidential election in West Palm Beach, Florida, asked a judge this week to sentence him to a state where assisted suicide is legal.
According to The Washington Examiner, Ryan Routh filed a motion on Wednesday with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, requesting that the judge sentence him to a prison in a state that allows assisted suicide.
“I would like to plan forwards for sentencing and request kindly to be placed in a state that has assisted suicide since I am a constant failure,” Routh stated. “I have yet been unable to obtain a list, but I hope someone can provide it.”
According to The Post Millennial, assisted suicide has been legalized in Washington, D.C., and 10 states across the country.
In addition to his request, Routh also detailed his desire to be used in a hostage swap, saying, “I still hold out hope that someone out there might put forth some effort to trade my life for any prisoner held in a foreign jail around the world.” The would-be assassin told Cannon that he had “mailed letters to countless Ministry of Foreign Affairs” but that his letters appeared to be “ineffective.”
The 59-year-old claimed that he could be used to “help repair relations with Iran” if he were traded as a prisoner to Iran. “Iran would love an American to torture, kill and drag through the streets,” Routh said. Routh added that a prisoner swap could “make Trump look good” and noted that the president would be “disposing of his worst enemy” by trading him to Iran.
The would-be assassin also offered to be used in a trade for a Ukrainian prisoner of war captured by Russia, a Palestinian terrorist imprisoned by Israel, or “any prisoner anywhere that is suffering.”
“Please trade me for one, so they all know they are not forgotten and left to die,” Routh stated.
Routh was convicted by a jury in September on five charges after attempting to assassinate Trump at a Florida golf course last September. The Secret Service was able to stop Routh before he was able to fire at Trump with a rifle he had planned to use.
The Post Millennial reported that after September’s conviction in a Florida court, the 59-year-old attempted to kill himself by stabbing himself in the neck with a pen. The outlet noted that Routh is currently scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces a sentence of life in prison.
