
The man was accused of plotting to shoot Donald Trump at the US president's Florida golf course last year. He faces life in prison.A man who was charged with trying to assassinate US President Donald Trump has been convicted in federal court on Tuesday. Ryan R.*, 59, was found guilty of attempting to kill Trump, who at the time was the Republican candidate and a former US president. After a 12-day trial at the federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida, the jury found that the defendant had pointed a rifle at Trump and intended to kill him while he was playing golf. The man, who had pleaded not guilty and defended himself in court, was found guilty on all counts, which included attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, as well as charges relating to firearms possession. Shortly after the guilty verdict was read out, the man tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen before officers stopped him and dragged him out of the courtroom. The defendant will be sentenced on December 18, the judge announced. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. What else do we know about the attempted assassination of Trump? During the trial, witnesses told the court that the defendant had fled without firing a shot, after he was spotted by US Secret Service agents who were patrolling the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The suspect fled in a black SUV and was later detained in nearby Martin County by local law enforcement. Secret Service agents, who protect US presidents and presidential candidates and other dignitaries, had been scouting ahead of Trump on a security sweep when they fired shots at the suspect. Police found an assault rifle and a GoPro camera in the bushes near to where the suspect had been spotted. "This plot was carefully crafted and deadly serious," prosecutor John Shipley said at the opening of the trial. Without the Secret Service's intervention, Trump "would not be alive," Shipley added. The incident came just two months after Trump survived another assassination attempt while he was speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, in which a bullet grazed his ear. Edited by: Zac Crellin *Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing the full names of alleged criminals.
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