The American people were still trying to process the frighteningly close call of the July 13th assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump when a stunning second attempt on his life in as many months was foiled by the Secret Service in mid-September. The second would-be assassin, Ryan Routh, was quickly tracked down and taken into custody and charged initially with firearms offenses, with the attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate subsequently added as a charge.
Routh pleaded not guilty to the charges in late September, and Judge Aileen Cannon then set the case for a two-week trial beginning November 18. However, the Department of Justice then quickly moved to have the case certified as “complex,” the deadlines canceled, and the case removed from the trial docket, arguing that the case involves hundreds of witnesses, over a dozen search warrants, hundreds of items of evidence, including multiple electronic devices, and noting that there are thousands of videos to review. In short, the DOJ contended that a mid-November trial date is not feasible given the nature of the case — and Routh, for his part, agreed.
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Now, Judge Cannon has ruled on that request, granting a brief continuance of the case, but denying the remainder of the DOJ’s requests. In an order issued on Friday, Cannon agreed to continue some of the specific deadlines previously entered. However, she denied the DOJ’s request to have the case designated as “complex” and to cancel the deadlines and remove the case from the trial docket. Instead, Cannon continued the case from the original November trial date to February 10, 2025, noting:
Although the Motion makes reference to substantial and ongoing discovery, including forensic review of digital devices and ongoing interviews and investigation, it does not provide a factual or legal basis to believe that this case is “so unusual or complex, due to the number of defendants, the nature of the prosecution, or the existence of novel questions of fact or law,” as would be required for a complex-case designation under the SpeedyTrial Act.
As Joe Cunningham reported on Thursday, Routh has moved to have Cannon recuse herself from the case due to the fact that she has overseen the classified documents criminal case brought against Trump by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith and been praised by Trump for her rulings in that case. Cannon has not yet ruled on that motion, but if I were the betting sort, I’d put my money on her not granting that request.
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Either way, the case now has a February trial setting. And, as long as that holds, the DOJ is going to be required to move swiftly to interview those witnesses, execute those search warrants, forensically examine those electronic devices, and review those videos.
