"TRUMP ASSASSIN CONVICTED & TRIES TO KILL HIMSELF, MACHETE MURDER OVER PREGNANCY & MISTRESS KILLER GUILTY"

0:03 Caaleroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm read Carter. Thursday, September twenty fifth, twenty twenty five. Today on Celebrity Trials, Ryan Ruth was convicted of trying to assassinate Donald Trump, then tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen right there in the courtroom, his daughter screaming, oh my god, he's trying to kill himself as Marshall's tackled him. Dakota Van Patten is on trial for machetting his girlfriend to death, and the medical examiner just revealed she might have been pregnant because apparently regular murder wasn't horrible enough. Jose Sodo Escalera has been convicted of murdering his pregnant mistress with an electrical cord she paid for herself. The jury deliberated for forty seven minutes that includes bathroom breaks. Plus tomorrow starts our eight days of O. J. Simpson, the trial that taught America that with enough money and fame, you can literally get away with murder. This is Celebrity Trials.

1:08 Ryan Ruth was convicted Tuesday of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump. The jury deliberated for less than three hours, but that's not the headline. The headline is what happened when they read the verdict. Fort Pierce, Florida Federal Court Judge Aileen Cannon, presiding the jury foreman, stands and reads guilty on all counts attempted assassination of a president, guilty, assaulting a federal officer guilty, possession of a firearm as a felon guilty. Courtroom sketch artist Lothar Spear was in the front row. He said Ruth showed no emotion as the verdict was read, stonefaced, accepting. Then suddenly chaos. Ruth's daughter Sarah screamed from behind, Oh my god, he's trying to kill himself. He's trying to kill himself. Someone stop him, please. Fifty nine years old had grabbed a pen and was trying to stab himself in the neck in open court, in front of his daughter, in front of the judge, in front of everyone. US marshals tackled him immediately dragged him out the side entrance.

2:14 When they brought him back, he was in full shackles, no blood. According to witnesses. They stopped him in time, but the attempt was real. His daughter, Sarah yelled out as they dragged him back. I love you and we will get you out. Don't worry. She was then escorted from the courtroom. Get him out. He was just convicted of trying to kill a president. He's facing life in prison. There is no getting out. But let me back up and tell you how we got here. Because Ryan Ruth's path to that courtroom suicide attempt is a story of obsession, stalking, and the delusion that political violence is patriotism. September fifteenth, twenty twenty four, Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach.

2:57 Trump is playing his usual Sunday round. What he did He doesn't know is that Ryan Ruth has been there since four am, creating what prosecutors called a sniper's nest near the sixth Green. Ruth had been stalking Trump for weeks. FBI agent Kimberly McGreevy testified that cell phone data showed Ruth in the vicinity of the golf club repeatedly on September second. He was there for sixteen hours starting at four am. Sixteen hours sitting waiting, planning. His Google searches tell the story of pre meditation. Trump's upcoming rallies. Palm beach, traffic cameras, directions to Miami Airport, flights to Mexico, hospitals in the area, how to make a tourniquet. He expected to be shot, He expected to need medical care. He expected to flee to Mexico. This wasn't impulse. This was a plan. The most heartbreaking evidence. At twelve fifty five pm on September fifteenth, less than an hour before Secret Service spotted his rifle barrel, Ruth texted his children. To his daughter Sarah, love you so much. You are the best daughter. To his son Adam, you are so awesome, dude, love you so much. To his son orin love you so much, man, you are so brilliant. Or an alarmed texted back, love you too, Dad. What's up? Everything all right?

4:21 Ruth never responded. He was too busy setting up to assassinate the former president. Secret Service spotted his rifle barrel poking through the fence at one thirty one pm. They opened fire. Ruth fled, leaving behind his SKS rifle, two backpacks, and a go pro camera he'd been using to record his crime. Tommy McGhee, a witness, saw a frantic and disheveled man fleeing the scene. McGhee followed him, took pictures of his black Nissanics Terra, wrote down the license plate and called nine to one one. Forty five minutes later, Ruth was arrested on a ninety five heading north. During cross examination at trial, Ruth told McGee you're a good man.

5:06 You're my hero. You're an American hero, the man who tried to assassinate a president calling the man who caught him a hero. The irony was lost on Ruth. Here's the truly insane part. Ruth represented himself at trial, no lawyer, just him trying to convince a jury he didn't intend to kill Trump, despite creating a sniper's nest and waiting with a rifle. His closing argument was delusional. If the attempted assassination was not taken, it is not an attempt. He told the jury there was no intent. Judge Cannon had to interrupt him ten times for veering outside the bounds of evidence. He called three witnesses in his defense, two friends who accomplished nothing, and a former Marine sniper who testified the SKS rifle found at the scene was prone to jamming, as if a jamming rifle means you didn't intend to use it. Prosecutor Chris Brown's closing was simple.

6:01 Even though he didn't kill Trump, he wanted to. The evidence was overwhelming, the stalking, the preparation, the goodbye texts, the sniper's nest, the rifle. The jury took less than three hours for a two week trial with thirty eight prosecution witnesses and hundreds of exhibits. Three hours is nothing. They knew he was guilty. Everyone knew he was guilty. Even Ruth knew he was guilty. After the trial, his daughter Sarah told CNN, it's obviously all rigged and it's all bullshit rigged. Her father was caught with a rifle at Trump's golf course after stalking him for weeks. That's not rigged, that's caught. Trump posted on truth Social This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him for once. Trump's assessment is completely accurate. Ruth will be sentenced December eighteenth by Judge Cannon. He faces life in prison at fifty nine. That means dying in federal custody. But he almost denied the government that satisfaction with a pen to his neck. Think about that he tried to kill Trump to make a political statement, failed, then tried to kill himself to avoid consequences. Failed at that too. Ryan Ruth is a failure at everything, including dying.

7:18 His children will visit him in federal prison for the next few decades, remembering those final texts, love you so much, the last free words of a father who chose political violence over his family. Ryan Ruth wanted to be remembered as a patriot who saved America from Trump. Instead, he'll be remembered as the guy who tried to stab himself with a pen when the jury told him what everyone already knew. He's guilty. Now to Iowa, where Dakota of Van Patten's trial for machetting his girlfriend to death has taken an even darker turn. The medical examiner testified yesterday that Melody Hoffman might have been pregnant when Van Patten hacked her to death in their apartment. Let me set this scene of absolute horror. March fifteenth, twenty twenty five, Waterloo, Iowa.

8:10 Neighbors hear screaming from Apartment four B, not arguing, not yelling, screaming the kind that makes you call nine one one immediately police arrived to find Melody Hoffman twenty three dead in the living room. But this wasn't just murder, this was butchery. She had seventeen machete wounds. Seventeen defensive wounds on her hands and arms showed she fought desperately. She was literally trying to grab the blade to stop him. Dakota Van Patten twenty eight, was still in the apartment, covered in blood, sitting on the couch watching TV. When police asked what happened, he said, I had to do it. She was going to ruin everything. Ruin what. According to the prosecution, Melody had just told Dakota she might be pregnant, might be hadn't even taken a test yet, just missed her period, and wanted him to know. His response was to get a machete from the bedroom closet and attack her.

9:06 The medical examiner, doctor Patricia Wong, testified that Melody's body showed signs consistent with early pregnancy, elevated hormone levels, uterine changes. She was probably four to six weeks pregnant, too early to be certain, but the signs were there. Dakota had another girlfriend and a wife. He was separated from but trying to reconcile with Melody didn't know about either of them. She thought she was in a monogamous relationship. She thought telling him about possible pregnancy would be happy news. The prosecutor, Jennifer Martinez, showed the jury Dakota's text messages from that day. At two PM, he texted his wife working things out, Love you. At two thirty, he texted his other girlfriend, can't wait to see you tonight. At three pm, Melody texted him, need to talk when you get home important.

9:59 By f four pm, she was dead. The machete was a gift from his father, an antique from World War II, a family heirloom. He used his grandfather's war trophy to murder his pregnant girlfriend because she complicated his love triangle. Van Patten's defense attorney, Michael Anderson, is trying to claim temporary insanity, that the shock of potential fatherhood caused a psychotic break, that Dakota has no history of violence, no history of violence, His ex wife has a restraining order. His other girlfriend filed a police report two weeks before the murder, saying he threatened her. Melody's friends say she was scared of his temper. That's not no history, that's a pattern. Nobody connected until Melody was dead. The crime scene photos shown to the jury were so graphic one juror vomited. Another had to be excused for medical reasons.

10:52 The judge offered to declare a mistrial. The remaining jurors voted to continue. They wanted to see this through for Melody. Dakota's mother testified for the defense, said he was a good boy, had stress from his divorce, was trying to do right by everyone. Trying to do right apparently included maintaining three relationships and murdering the woman who might be carrying his child. Melody's sister gave victim impact testimony that destroyed the courtroom. She brought Melody's journal. Read an entry from a week before her death. Dakota is acting strange, distant, but I have amazing news to share. I hope it brings us closer. She hoped pregnancy news would bring them closer. Instead, it brought a machete. The jury saw surveillance footage from the apartment complex Melody coming home from work at three forty five, smiling, carrying grocery bags she'd bought ingredients for a special dinner. Was going to tell Dakota over his favorite meal. At three fifty five, Dakota arrives empty handed except for rage. By four fifteen, neighbors are calling nine to one one twenty minutes from arrival to murder. That's how fast Melody went from girlfriend to victim. Dakota van Patten faces life without parole. Iowa doesn't have the death penalty, which is unfortunate because if anyone deserves it, it's the man who misch shedded his possibly pregnant girlfriend seventeen times because she inconvenienced his dating life. Melody Hoffman was twenty three.

12:24 She worked as a veterinary technician, loved animals, wanted kids, thought she'd found love with Dakota. She died trying to protect the baby she might have been carrying defensive wounds. Showed her hands over her stomach even as she tried to stop the blade. That's not murder. That's a war crime committed in a living room. We'll be right back with Jose Sodo Escalera's conviction and your preview of eight days of oj Jose Sodo Escallera verdict ten to twelve minutes Jose Soto Escala was convicted yesterday of murdering his pregnant mistress, Melissa Rodriguez. The jury deliberated for forty seven minutes that includes electing a foreman, using the bathroom, and probably asking why are we even discussing this? The evidence was overwhelming, security footage of Melissa entering the warehouse where she died, Jose leaving alone three hours later, his Google searches about electrical chord strength, the receipt showing Melissa bought her own murder weapon with her credit card because Jose was too cheap to pay forty seven dollars and ninety nine cents to kill her. But what sealed his fate was a text message Melissa sent her mother an hour before meeting Jose tonight. I finally get answers. Either he's

13:55 leaving Maria or I'm leaving him. Baby Sophia deserves a far who shows up? She got her answer. Jose showed up all right, with the electrical cord she'd bought, thinking it was for some home improvement project. Instead, it was for her execution. Jose's wife, Maria was in court when the verdict was read, still standing by her man She actually smiled when they said guilty, smiled like she won something. Your husband murdered his pregnant mistress, and you're smiling. The prosecutor, Anna Martinez said after the verdict, Jose Sodo Escala didn't just kill Melissa Rodriguez. He killed baby Sophia. He killed a kindergarten teacher. He killed a daughter, a sister, a friend, all because child support was inconvenient. Jose showed no emotion as the verdict was read, just stared ahead like he was calculating his appeals. His lawyer asked for the jury to be pulled. Each one looked Jose in the eye and said guilty twelve times, guilty, Guilty, guilty, sentence. Next month, he faces life without parole at thirty eight. That means potentially fifty years in prison. Fifty years to think about the four minutes baby Sophia suffered as oxygen was cut off.

15:14 Four minutes of a viable baby dying because daddy didn't want to pay child support. Melissa's family held hands as the verdict was read. Her mother sobbed, her father stood stone faced. Her sister held up a photo of Melissa's ultrasound baby Sophia at seven months, never born, never held, never named officially because her father killed her before she could exist outside her mother. The defense tried everything, other suspects rushed investigation, circumstantial evidence, But you can't argue with Google searches, security footage, and a receipt for your own murder weapon. Josey Soto Escalera thought forty seven dollars and ninety nine cents for an electrical cord was cheaper than eighteen years of child support. Now he'll spend the rest of his life paying for that calculation, not in money, in time, in freedom, in the knowledge that he murdered his daughter to avoid being her father. Tomorrow begins Something Special Eight Days of OJ Simpson, eight episodes covering the trial that changed America. We start with June twelfth, nineteen ninety four. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman murdered so brutally that the crime scene looked like a slaughterhouse. Nicole nearly decapitated ron with defensive wounds showing he fought desperately, blood everywhere, and somehow someway O. J. Simpson walked free.

16:42 Tomorrow we cover June and July nineteen ninety four, the murders, the evidence, the Bronco chase watched by ninety five million Americans, the suicide note don't remember me as a Monster Too late? Juice Saturday through next Friday will cover each month of the trial. The dream Team's formation, the prosecution's over confidence, the gloves that didn't fit, the race card that trumped evidence, Judge Eto's circus, the jury that wanted to go home. We have thirty years of perspective now. DNA evidence that was revolutionary then is routine. Now we understand how the defense played the race card. In post Rodney King, Los Angeles, we see how celebrity warped justice. Eight days, eight months of trial, one comprehensive examination of how a man who left a trail of blood from Bundy to Rockingham to his own bedroom walked free. Nicole told friends, He's going to kill me and get away with it. She was right.

17:41 She documented the abuse, called nine one one multiple times, had photos of bruises, predicted her own murder, and still couldn't prevent it or get justice for it. Ron Goldman was just returning sunglasses. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong killer, twenty five years old, waiter, aspiring actor, died trying to defend Nicole from her ex husband's rage. Starting tomorrow, we answer those questions. Eight days of O. J. Simpson, The murders that defined modern America's relationship with celebrity, race, and justice. It starts tomorrow that celebrity trials for Thursday, September twenty fifth.

18:23 Ryan Ruth convicted of trying to assassinate Trump, then tried to kill himself with a pen in the courtroom. Dakota Van Patten misdded his possibly pregnant girlfriend because she complicated his dating life. Jose Sodo Escalera convicted in less time than it takes to watch a sitcom. I'm read Carter Today proved that whether you're stalking presidents at golf courses or pregnant girlfriends in apartments, eventually the truth comes out, sometimes in guilty verdicts, sometimes with a pen to your own neck, sometimes thirty years later in retrospective podcast. See you tomorrow for day one of O. J. Simpson, The Trial of the Century.