GREENBELT, Md. — A man from California has admitted to attempting to murder U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his residence in a suburb of Washington, D.C., almost three years ago.
The individual, Nicholas John Roske, was apprehended near Kavanaugh’s house in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in June 2022. Authorities reported that Roske, armed with a gun and a knife, carrying zip ties, and dressed in black, arrived in the neighborhood via taxi shortly after 1 a.m.
Roske is set to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman on October 3. Prosecutors have stated that under federal sentencing guidelines, he could face a sentence ranging from 30 years to life imprisonment.
Roske, 29, of Simi Valley, California, pleaded guilty to attempting to murder a justice of the United States without reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
A trial for Roske had been scheduled to start on June 9.
After his arrest, Roske told a police detective that he was upset about a leaked draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court intended to overrule Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion case, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit.
Killing one judge could change the decisions of the nine-member court “for decades to come,” Roske wrote over an encrypted messaging platform to another user in May 2022. Roske added, “I am shooting for 3.”
The leaked opinion draft led to protests at several of the justices’ homes. Roske’s arrest spurred the House to approve a bill expanding around-the-clock security protection to the justices’ families.
Roske also said he was upset over the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, and believed that Kavanaugh would vote to loosen gun control laws, the affidavit said.
Roske was apprehended after he called 911 and told a police dispatcher that he was near Kavanaugh’s home and was having suicidal and homicidal thoughts. He was spotted by two U.S. marshals who were part of 24-hour security provided to the justices.
During his plea hearing, Roske told the judge that he was being treated in jail for an unspecified mental illness.
“Are you thinking clearly?” the judge asked him.
“I believe so,” he said.
In a court filing last Thursday, Justice Department prosecutors laid out Roske’s planning for his trip to Kavanaugh’s neighborhood:
Roske searched the internet for justices’ home addresses and other information, including techniques for breaking into homes and quietly killing somebody. He also wrote about killing judges in encrypted messages sent to another user, who isn’t named in the filing.
“The thought of Roe v Wade and gay marriage both being repealed has me furious,” Roske wrote.
In late May 2022, Roske purchased tactical gear, a lock pick, black face paint, a glass cutter, a suction cup and other items that he took to Maryland.
On June 2, 2022, Roske bought a Glock 9 mm pistol from a gun store in Camarillo, California. The following day, he practiced firing the pistol at a Simi Valley shooting range, where he also purchased pepper spray.
Two days later, Roske booked a one-way flight from Los Angeles to Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.
“Roske also saved a map on his Google account that contained location pins marking the residential addresses of Associate Justices in Maryland and northern Virginia,” prosecutors wrote.
After arriving at Dulles on June 7, 2022, he took a taxi directly to Kavanaugh’s home. He texted his sister on the way, telling her that he loved her.
Roske was still on the phone with the police dispatcher when officers arrested him and seized his backpack and suitcase. He later told investigators that he was thinking about how to give his life “a purpose” when he decided to kill Kavanaugh.
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