Ryan Routh, who was convicted last year of attempting to kill then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2024, is appealing his life sentence. The brief notice to appeal was filed on Feb. 13. 

Routh was found guilty of all five counts, including the attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, which can carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to The Epoch Times. 

“Defendant recognizes that he was found guilty by the jury but asserts that the jury was misled by his inability to effectively confront witnesses, use exhibits or affirmatively introduce impeachment evidence designed to prove his lack of intent to cause injury to anyone,” Routh’s current defense attorney, Martin Roth, wrote in a filing from January.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon allowed Routh to defend himself in court, noting it was his constitutional right.

During the sentencing hearing on Feb. 4, prosecutors said that Routh had plotted the assassination attempt for months before he staked out a position outside President Trump’s West Palm Beach, Florida, golf club in September 2024, just two months before the presidential election. 

“The Constitution affords citizens many peaceful avenues to oppose or express strong dissent about a Presidential candidate—murder is not one of them,” the government wrote in its sentencing memorandum.

Judge Cannon said there was overwhelming evidence that Routh’s crimes fit the federal terrorism statute, and that only a life sentence would be adequate. 

While Routh had repeatedly described himself as a peaceful, non-violent person during his defense arguments, Cannon disagreed. She cited Routh’s long history of past criminal convictions and his breaking of “societal norms.”