Judge Deborah Boardman, a Biden appointee, sentenced Nicholas Roske who planned to kill Justice Kavanaugh and possibly two other Justices and potentially family members.
She said it is important to send a message to people who are considering harming judges over disagreements with their decisions, especially now when threats are at an “all time high.”
“[Roske’s] actions before her self-reporting of this crime were extremely serious, were properly prosecuted, and a significant sentence of incarceration is necessary to promote respect for the law,” she said. “Political violence, even unexecuted plans of political violence, must be prosecuted and punished.”
Then she sentenced him to only 97 months.
In eight years, he will be out, then what?
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“I have been portrayed as a monster and this tragic mistake that I made will follow me for the rest of my life,” Roske told the judge, apologizing to Kavanaugh, to his family and “for contributing to the fear judges experience.”
The government asked for a 30-year sentence to send “the unequivocal, clear, and strong message” that attempted violence against the judiciary and public officials will not be tolerated.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Coreen Mao told the judge Roske posed a “very real threat to the justice’s life” and “to our constitution.”
Mao argued Roske only changed his course of action because law enforcement was present at Kavanaugh’s residence, highlighting how he spent a month acquiring supplies, conducting research and discussing the impact of an assassination on the Supreme Court with friends.
He planned it for a month.
Roske was arrested outside Kavanaugh’s Maryland home in June 2022, carrying a Glock 17 pistol, ammunition, a tactical light, zip ties, pepper spray and burglary tools. He told investigators he planned to kill the justice after the Supreme Court’s draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health was published the previous April by Politico.
In an online conversation on the messaging app Discord, Roske told an individual in May that he was “gonna stop roe v wade from being overturned” and that he would “remove some people from the supreme court,” according to the FBI.
“Two dead judges ain’t gonna do nothing,” the unnamed user told Roske. “You would die before you killed them all.”
Roske replied: “yeah but I could get at least one, which would change the votes for decades to come, and I am shooting for 3.”
Defense attorneys highlighted how Roske did not go through with his actions. “It’s not who she is,” defense attorney Andrew Szekely said.
It seems Nicholas Roske is now Sophie.
In a Sept. 19 filing, Roske’s attorneys first revealed he identifies as a woman, informing the judge they would “refer to her as Sophie and use female pronouns” moving forward.
The family showed up pleading for him/her.
