Jury Finds Combat Veteran Guilty of Threatening Former President Trump

In Arizona, a jury has handed down a guilty verdict to a Marine combat veteran who made threats to assassinate President Donald Trump using an M16 rifle. The veteran, Rene Ortiz, explicitly stated his intention to aim for the “head, not the ear.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona confirmed to Law&Crime that Ortiz, hailing from Casa Grande, was convicted on Monday for making threats against the president. This verdict was reached after a four-day trial held in Phoenix. The date for his sentencing has not yet been determined.

Ortiz’s trial commenced after his arrest in early 2025. The charges against him stemmed from threats he allegedly made in November and December 2024, during Trump’s term as president-elect.

According to a federal complaint, Ortiz left documents at federal courthouses in Phoenix and Tucson, initially demanding the courts to “execute the newly elected POTUS by firing an M-16A2 Service Rifle with a magazine of 6 rounds.” He went on to threaten that he would carry out the act himself if his demands were not met.

The complaint details Ortiz’s statement that “the execution shall commence 3 days upon notice to the Defendants to this action,” specifying that “6 rounds to be shot will be from 300 or 500 yards away from the target.”

“ANY REFUSAL OF ANY RIGHT, MR. ORTIZ WILL BE ENTITLED TO SHOT THE INCOMING FRAUDULENT ELECTED POTUS FROM 300 OR 666 YARDS AWAY WITH 666 ROUNDS FOR AN M-16A2 SERVICE RIFLE AT THE INAGURATION [sic],” Ortiz threatened, adding that he had an “Expert Badge” in marksmanship.

Federal agents questioned Ortiz about the threats on Dec. 5, 2024, at the Secret Service Phoenix field office. During the interview, Ortiz admitted to making them.

“When asked if Ortiz plans to shoot [Trump], Ortiz responded, ‘If my demands are not met,’” according to the complaint. “Ortiz explained his grievance is with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ortiz explained while employed at the VA they promised to pay for his schooling if he quit working for them. Ortiz quit working at the VA and began school but has not been reimbursed for his education.”

During his trial, Ortiz’s family said he was upset after being fired from the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the Tucson Sentinel. He began drafting lawsuits to challenge his termination and hand-delivered documents to the courthouses with help from family members, who drove him and said they had no idea what he was actually saying in the documents.

“Mountains and mountains of paperwork,” Ortiz’s eldest son, Ryun Ortiz, reportedly testified.

Ortiz’s public defenders argued that he did not mean what he said about harming the president and insisted no danger was ever actually present, per court filings and testimony. They also claimed he suffers from schizoaffective disorder and borderline personality disorder. Ortiz’s defense filed a motion on June 5 to declare a mistrial.

In it, Ortiz’s lawyers claimed there is a “manifest necessity” for a mistrial because the court “limited defense counsel’s questioning” of defense witness Deputy U.S. Marshal Vladimir St. Louis, according to the U.S. Attorney’s response to the filing. St. Louis investigated similar threats to the U.S. attorney’s office in central California that Ortiz allegedly made two months before his arrest for the Trump threats.

For the California threats, U.S. Marshals decided not to arrest Ortiz because they believed he likely suffered from mental health issues. The judge overseeing his Trump threats case, however, refused to let St. Louis be questioned about the decision after federal prosecutors argued that it would “elicit irrelevant hearsay,” according to court filings.

“The questions were improper and testimony inadmissible,” prosecutors say in a June 8 response to Ortiz’s motion to declare a mistrial, which was filed on June 5. “There is no reason, much less a manifest necessity, to declare a mistrial here and now.”