Kavanaugh assassination plotter sentenced to eight years in prison
The 29-year-old Californian who flew across the country to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday.
“We cannot and will not tolerate it,” said U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman while listing Nicholas Roske’s detailed plans to break into Kavanaugh’s home and kill him.
The punishment was 22 years less than the minimum of 30 years sought by prosecutors.
Boardman cited Roske’s decision to call 911 after arriving in Kavanaugh’s neighborhood in 2022 and Roske’s lack of criminal history. Federal sentencing guidelines in the case, while not binding, also recommended a sentence of at least 30 years.
The sentence, handed down in a federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, marked the end of a three-year case that began in the early morning hours of June 8, 2022, when officers were summoned to a dark street in Chevy Chase, several blocks from Kavanaugh’s home.
They found Roske and a suitcase that had been checked onboard a cross-country flight. Inside were lock-picking tools, a Glock handgun, 37 rounds of ammunition and a tactical flashlight. Within hours, Roske had admitted to the intended plan: “Break in. Shoot him and then shoot myself.”
Roske was angered over the court’s rightward shift and in an online message suggested that two additional justices would be targeted. Prosecutors said all of Roske’s plotting and steps amounted to an attempted assassination of a Supreme Court justice, the crime to which Roske earlier pleaded guilty.
“The focused objective was terrorism,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Coreen Mao said Friday, urging Boardman to impose a punishment that sent a strong message. “There is also an enormous need to promote respect for the law.”
Roske’s attorneys argued that their client has long suffered from mental illness and that on the night of the planned attack, Roske did not try to go into Kavanaugh’s home and ultimately placed the call to 911. They had sought a term of eight years, describing the plot as far out of character for their client.
“An aberrant episode,” Assistant Federal Public Defender Andrew Szekely told Boardman.
Boardman’s sentence was 97 months - eight years and one month.
Boardman also ruled that, upon release, Roske must be under the permanent supervision of federal probation officers.
In a recent court filing, attorneys representing Roske said their client goes by Sophie Roske and is transgender. Roske began transitioning in 2020, the filing says. Roske’s name in court headings remains Nicholas Roske. In court Friday, Roske’s attorneys, family members and Boardman referred to the defendant as Sophie Roske.
Boardman spoke for two hours in explaining her sentence. She began by addressing what the case had put Kavanaugh through.
“He’s a justice on the Supreme Court but he’s also a human being,” Boardman said. “He’s a public servant. And he and his family should never have to face a fear or threat because he does his job.”
The judge described how serious Roske’s planning and plotting were.
“Let me be crystal clear,” she said. “What Sophie Roske did, devising and nearly executing a plan to kill a Supreme Court Justice … is absolutely reprehensible and will be punished.”
But Boardman stressed that the question before her wasn’t whether Roske was dangerous in 2022 but if she is dangerous now and if she will be dangerous in the future. Given Roske’s remorse, from early in the case, Roske’s commitment to addressing mental health needs, and strong family support, Boardman said, she did not view Roske as a risk to public safety.
A big part of Friday’s hearing - and under questioning by Boardman to both sides—centered on a debate that has long been part of the case: What precisely caused Roske to halt the assassination plan?
Both sides agreed that after landing from the flight at Dulles International Airport, Roske took a cab to Kavanaugh’s neighborhood. On the way, Roske texted a family member: “I love you.” The cab pulled up near Kavanaugh’s home just after 1 a.m., and Roske got out with the suitcase. From there, accounts and motives differ.
According to prosecutors, Roske still intended to try to break into Kavanaugh’s home but was thwarted only after seeing two deputy U.S. marshals guarding the justice’s home.
“If the coast was clear, the defendant would have proceeded,” Mao said Friday. “Law enforcement forced the defendant’s hand.”
The prosecutors cited statements that Roske made early in the case to investigators explaining what happened: “I noticed immediately that there were people sitting outside and this was a very, like, empty neighborhood, so I was like, okay, they’re keeping a lookout.”
Roske walked away, both sides agreed, and headed down a darkened street while pulling behind the rolling suitcase. The family member called back, the two spoke, and Roske called 911. A recording of that call and a recording of one of the responding officers speaking with Roske - both played in court Friday - demonstrated what at that point was cooperative behavior.
“Ms. Roske surrendered herself to the authorities—peacefully,” Szekely said.
And that thinking, he said, had been formed earlier inside the taxi. “She abandoned her plans prior to arriving at the house,” added Assistant Public Defender Ellie Marranzini.
The two cited a letter Roske had written to the judge.
“I was deluded into thinking this was a way I could make significant change before killing myself,” Roske wrote. “Once I actually arrived in his neighborhood, my whole perspective shifted. I had become so focused on the effects policy has on people that I forgot the judges and politicians making policy are real people too.”
Boardman said it was not clear how much of a role the deputy marshals played in swaying Roske’s plans. And the judge said she was influenced by Roske’s decision to call 911. “It’s truly remarkable, extraordinary, that Sophie Roske called 911 on her own, asked for help, and told the police unprompted about her crime,” she said.
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