(NewsNation) — A federal judge in the case of Ryan Routh, who is accused in the attempted assassination of President-elect Donald Trump at one of his Florida golf courses in September, will decide in the “not so distant future” whether to give Routh’s attorneys more time to prepare for trial.
Defense attorneys told Judge Aileen Cannon on Wednesday that they need more time to prepare for trial as they wade through what they say is an extraordinary volume of evidence in the case.
Routh is scheduled for trial in February in connection with the assassination attempt, which took place at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Authorities allege that Routh waited in the brush with a rifle along the perimeter of the golf club while Trump was golfing.
Officials said that Routh pointed the gun through a fenceline and was later apprehended within minutes after the FBI, Secret Service, and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office issued an alert for officers to be on the lookout for the vehicle driven by the suspect.
Routh has pleaded not guilty to five charges, including the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate and assault on a federal officer.
Defense attorneys asked Cannon to give them a 10-month extension at a hearing in Florida on Wednesday, citing the amount of evidence. Routh’s attorneys said it would be a miscarriage of justice to move ahead with the trial in February as scheduled.
Cannon gave no specific timeline for a ruling and only said it would come in the not so distant future.
The attorneys wrote in court filings that they needed to review electronic data from 17 cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as surveillance footage. They also said that the volume of discovery rivals that of the largest cases ever seen in the Florida district where the case is being heard.
Federal prosecutors are pushing for the trial to move forward albeit with a reasonable delay. They credit the amount of evidence in the case to the volume of federal manpower that was devoted to the attempt on Trump’s life in September.
During Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors said that of the discovery materials sent to the defense, 66% came from phones and tablets. They argued that 17 phones that were recovered belonged to Routh and that six of those phones were in his possession when he was arrested.
Routh’s attorney, Kristy Militello, told Cannon that she has never had to deal with reviewing 17 phones in the defense of a client. Militello said that the defense has been “in the dark” because of the volume of evidence it needs to review as it prepares for trial.
