FORT PIERCE, Fla, Sept 24, (AP): After a two-week trial, a jury took just two hours Tuesday to convict Ryan Routh of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on a Florida golf course last year, a plot that was undone when a Secret Service agent spotted Routh and fired a shot that sent him running. Chaos ensued in the courtroom shortly after Routh was found guilty on all counts by a federal jury of seven women and five men.

Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen and officers quickly dragged him out. As he was removed, Routh’s daughter, Sara Routh, screamed: "Dad, I love you, don’t do anything. I’ll get you out. He didn’t hurt anybody.” She was escorted from the courtroom and later waited outside with her brother, Adam Routh.

The pen Routh used was flexible, a design to prevent people in custody from using it as a weapon, according to a person familiar with the matter who could not publicly disclose details and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Routh did not puncture his skin or otherwise hurt himself, the person said.

After order was restored, Routh was brought before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. He was shackled and no longer in the jacket and tie he wore while representing himself at the trial. Cannon announced Routh will be sentenced on Dec. 18 at 9:30 a.m. He faces life in prison. Routh's standby defense attorneys did not comment after the verdict.

Following the verdict, Trump told reporters in New York that the case was "really well-handled.” "It’s very important. You can’t let things like that happen. Nothing to do with me, but a president -- or even a person, you can’t allow that to happen,” Trump said. "And so justice was served. But I very much appreciate the judge and jury and everybody on that.”

Prosecutors said Routh, 59, spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the then-Republican presidential candidate played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club. Just nine weeks earlier, Trump had survived an attempt on his life while campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. That gunman had fired eight shots, with one bullet grazing Trump’s ear.

The gunman was then fatally shot by a Secret Service counter sniper. At Routh's trial, Robert Fercano, who was a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course, testified that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.