Attorneys for Ryan Wesley Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate then-presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump, have asked a federal judge to delay his trial until at least December 2025 because of the amount of evidence to be examined.
Judge Aileen Cannon had set a February trial date in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
“Discovery delays and the extraordinary volume of discovery have made the current trial schedule incompatible with Mr. Routh’s due process rights,” Routh’s attorneys told Cannon on Dec. 8.
The next day, Cannon requested a response from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is prosecuting Routh, and directed both sides to be prepared for a hearing on the motion on Dec. 11.
Routh’s motion focuses on the volume of documents and expert testimony. It notes that the DOJ requested on Dec. 5 a second, one-terabyte hard drive for additional discovery.
So far, the discovery has included electronic data downloaded from 18 phones, expert analyses, electronic data from multiple tablets and laptops, video surveillance, financial records, around 3,000 photographs, travel records, and other items.
“Reading thousands of pages of materials, watching untold hours of video, and analyzing tens of thousands of digital pages of information will require many months,” Routh’s attorneys said.
“After a substantial portion of the discovery is reviewed, then counsel will need to schedule scene inspections and evidence inspections/views,” they stated. “Defense experts need to be retained to evaluate and analyze portions of the discovery as well.
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