On Wednesday, federal prosecutors filed a request to indefinitely delay the scheduling of the criminal trial against Ryan Routh, who is the suspect who was involved in the second assassination attempt against GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
In making the request, prosecutors said they have an enormous pile of evidence they have to pour through — all of which was gathered since Routh was arrested. Their request asks Aileen Cannon, the Florida district judge overseeing the case, to officially designate the case as being “complex.”
Prosecutors unveiled the full scope of their investigation into Routh, which they say spans across multiple states, and included hundreds of digital media files and interviews that they need to review.
In the filing, prosecutors wrote:
“The government has worked diligently since September 15 to investigate the incident. Over the past two weeks, the United States has interviewed hundreds of witnesses. It has also executed 13 search warrants in Florida, Hawaii and North Carolina, and seized hundreds of items of evidence, including multiple electronic devices.”
In addition, they have more than 100 outstanding subpoena returns that are still in a pending status, plus “thousands of videos to review” that they took off of the devices that they seized.
As the filing states:
“All videos, still images, text files and audio files constitute approximately 4,000 terabytes (4 million gigabytes) of digital review to complete.”
At the same time, the FBI is working to conduct multiple forensic tests on the evidence. This includes DNA and fingerprint comparisons, ballistic testing and more. They also would likely use this evidence as part of preparation for expert witnesses who would be expected to testify in the case.
Just because of how much evidence there is in this case, prosecutors requested that Cannon delay the trial indefinitely, which would allow all parties involved to have adequate time to review all the discovery materials and then determine what motions they would need to file.
The filing also said that the defense attorneys representing Routh aren’t opposed to this delay.
Routh is facing charges of attempted assassination. He was originally charged with federal counts of possessing a gun with a scratched-out number as well as possessing a gun illegally as a felon.
A federal judge ordered that Routh remain in custody while he awaits his trial.
In his first court appearance in West Palm Beach, Florida, Routh pleaded not guilty to all the charges levied against him.
In mid-September, Routh hid in some bushes outside of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. He had a rifle in his hand and poked it through the bushes while Trump was playing a round of golf on the course.
Luckily, a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of Routh’s gun sticking through the bushes and opened fire immediately.
Prosecutors say that Routh then took off, but was later found not long after there and placed under arrest.
