According to court records, the suspected assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, was already charged with possession of explosives when he fled after being stopped by police for a traffic violation in December 2002 and barricaded himself in his roofing business.
Despite the seriousness of both charges and Routh's lengthy criminal history in North Carolina, he served no prison time as a result.
“He was quite notorious among my people.”
“Guilford County and the greater Greensboro area have historically been very liberal,” B.J. Barnes, a Republican who served as Guilford County Sheriff for 24 years, told The Blaze News. “The courts here would rather convict everyone of misdemeanors than convict real criminals.”
Routh, who faces possible federal and state charges in the Sept. 15 assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump, was indicted in October 2002 on charges of possessing “a weapon of mass murder and destruction, a binary explosive device with detonation cord and explosive caps,” according to court records.
Routh was first arrested on explosives charges on April 23, 2002. He was released on $10,000 bail on April 30. At the time of his arrest, Routh was already on pretrial release on another case. Court Records He said.
Routh, who was out on bail on an explosives charge, was arrested on December 15, 2002, after fleeing when he was stopped by police for a traffic violation. Local media reported at the time that Routh barricaded himself inside a roofing company and held off police for three hours.
Tracy Fulk, retired Greensboro Police Sergeant He told WPTV In West Palm Beach, she pulled over Routh because she knew he did not have a valid driver's license.
“I saw him reach into the middle of the car so I shone my lights on him to see what he was doing,” Fulk told the TV station. “He opened his duffel bag and there was a gun in it. So I got my gun out and started giving him commands.”
Sheriff Barnes said he had no previous involvement with Routh, but that his deputies assisted Greensboro police during the Routh barricade.
“He was pretty notorious among my peers,” Barnes said.
When he appeared in court on December 18, 2002, Routh's bail was increased to $100,000, and Superior Court Judge Peter M. McHugh ordered his release on December 18. Two days later, Routh entered a plea agreement and the explosives charges were dropped. Court Records His bail was reduced to $10,000.
As part of the plea agreement, Routh was ordered to serve 60 months' probation in lieu of a 15-19 month prison sentence, court records show. He was also ordered not to drive without a valid license, not to possess “any firearm or explosive,” to “submit a mental health evaluation and follow any recommended course of treatment,” and to pay a $225 fine.
“The weapons charge was reduced to a concealed carry violation and Routh received a lighter punishment,” Burns said.
According to court records from that time, Routh was convicted of a series of invalid check offenses in November 1992 and a theft offense in December 1997. He also had been convicted of more than a dozen traffic offenses between November 1984 and October 2001.
According to online court records, North Carolina filed 95 criminal charges against Routh between 1998 and 2019. That included 19 criminal charges in 2002 alone, followed by 13 in 2010 and nine each in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009.
According to court records, Routh was permitted to travel to Costa Rica from July 2 to 9, 2004, while on five-year court supervision for explosives possession charges.
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