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Man will plead guilty in Kavanaugh assassination plot

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 23:08:30 +0000

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Brett Kavanaugh watches as Taoiseach Micheal Martin speaks at a breakfast meeting hosted by U.S. Vice President JD Vance at his official residence in Washington D.C., as part of his weeklong visit to the U.S. on March 12, 2025 (Press Association via AP Images).

The California man who allegedly attempted to assassinate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will plead guilty as charged, according to a Tuesday filing in Maryland federal court.

Trial for Nicholas John Roske, 28, was slated to begin on June 9.

Now, the defendant will forego two more months of waiting, as well as the stress of the adversarial system. But, Roske will make his admission of culpability lacking the guard rails of a plea deal with prosecutors, according to the notice of intent to plead guilty.

“Because the parties have not entered into a plea agreement, this letter is meant to memorialize the factual basis for the plea and assist the Court in the Rule 11 colloquy,” the notice reads.

Roske and his attorneys say he will plead guilty to the lone felony count of attempting to kidnap or murder, or threatening to assault, kidnap, or murder a sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

The rule of federal criminal procedure cited in the notice contains a broad suite of definitions and guidelines for pleas. Under the rule, for example, the judge overseeing the case can conduct an extensive interrogation of the defendant, and is even free to reject the plea.

In a concomitant letter filed Tuesday, Roske’s attorneys say their client’s decision to plead guilty in the high-profile case is being made with the knowledge and consent of federal prosecutors.

Roske faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. While a first-time offender would typically receive a considerably lighter sentence under federal guidelines, the potential punishment or divergence from the guidelines is anyone’s guess due to the nature of the crime.

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Roske was arrested outside of Kavanaugh’s home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, during the early morning hours of June 8, 2022.

“At approximately 1:50 a.m. today, a man was arrested near Justice Kavanaugh’s residence. The man was armed and made threats against Justice Kavanaugh,” the high court’s public information officer Patricia McCabe said in a statement to Law&Crime. “He was transported to Montgomery County Police 2nd District.”

Roske, a former substitute teacher from Simi Valley, is alleged to have become politically radicalized by the leaked Supreme Court decision that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade opinion.

The defendant, however, armed with a Glock and other potential weapons, apparently was not driven to actual violence. A federal criminal complaint details how the abortive, would-be assassin was intercepted by law enforcement before a single shot was fired.

The charging document reads:

On June 8, 2022, at approximately 1:05 a.m., two United States Deputy Marshals saw an individual dress in black clothing and carrying a backpack and a suitcase, get out of a taxicab that had stopped in front of the Montgomery County, Maryland residence of a current Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The individual looked at the two Deputy U.S. Marshals, who were standing next to their parked vehicle, and then turned to walk down the street.

Shortly thereafter, Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center fielded a call from an individual who identified himself as NICHOLAS JOHN ROSKE. ROSKE informed the call taker that he was having suicidal thoughts and had a firearm in his suitcase. ROSKE also told the call taker he came from California to kill a specific United States Supreme Court Justice. The Montgomery County Police Department officers were dispatched to the location near the Supreme Court Justice’s residence where they encountered ROSKE, who was still on the telephone with the Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center. ROSKE was taken into custody without incident and law enforcement officers seized both the backpack and the suitcase that were still in his possession.

Once he was taken into custody and Mirandized, the defendant allegedly said: “he was upset about the leak of a recent Supreme Court draft decision regarding the right to abortion as well as the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas,” according to the complaint.

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The notice filed Tuesday relays a summary of events which Roske admits the government would be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt if the case were to go to trial.

The filing says the defendant traveled from Los Angeles to Dulles International Airport in Virginia on June 7, 2022, “with an unloaded firearm and separately packed ammunition in his checked baggage.”

The next day, after landing, Roske “traveled by taxi from the airport to the Montgomery County, Maryland neighborhood” where Kavanaugh lived, according to the notice.

“Once there, Mr. Roske exited the taxi close to the residence and turned to walk away from the justice’s house,” the document goes on. “Shortly thereafter, Mr. Roske called 911 to report that he was having suicidal and homicidal thoughts. He further stated that he was from California and that he ‘came over here to act on them’. Mr. Roske also told the 911 dispatcher that he had weapons and burglary tools in his suitcase. Once in custody, Mr. Roske told law enforcement officers that he traveled from California to Maryland with the intent to kill the Associate Justice and then himself.”

In their filings, Roske’s federal public defenders asked the judge to set a guilty plea hearing for April 7 or 8.

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New details in alleged Kavanaugh assassination attempt

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 11:09:41 +0000

Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh stands during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC., on April 23, 2021 (ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images).

A series of recently filed court documents offer additional insight into the mind of the man who allegedly tried to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Nicholas John Roske, 28, is slated to begin his trial on federal charges beginning June 9, 2025, in a Maryland U.S. District Court.

The defendant stands accused of one felony count of attempting to kidnap or murder, or threatening to assault, kidnap, or murder a judge, specifically, a sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

On Jan. 3, in five different filings made up of motions and supplemental motions, exhibits, and proposed sealed documents, Roske’s lawyers sought to stop prosecutors from introducing several pieces of evidence during his upcoming trial.

The two major motions aimed to suppress the results of a warrantless search and seizure and several statements made to investigators after his arrest outside Kavanaugh’s home in June 2022.

In well over 100 pages submitted to U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte, the defense argues police searched Roske’s belongings without a warrant and that he was not Mirandized before his interrogation.

That ensuing interrogation was made all the more legally suspect, defense attorneys say, due to Roske’s mental state at the time. That alleged mental health issue, in which Roske described himself as “actively suicidal,” rendered those statements neither “knowingly” nor “voluntarily” given.

A lengthy transcript with investigators filed on Friday offers several key insights into how the defendant viewed his mental health.

“My plan was to kill Mr. Kavanaugh and then myself,” Roske allegedly said at one point.

“Just kill myself, then,” he allegedly said when asked if his plan for the jurist did not work out. “I’ve been actively suicidal for, I don’t know, a long time now. Before I was researching this, which researching things is something I enjoy, so it’s — I don’t know if I would have been capable of actually doing it.”

When asked why he wanted to end a life forever, the defendant allegedly said he had considered killing pedophiles.

“I thought if I could, like, prevent a child from being raped, that would be good,” Roske allegedly said. “But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that, like, I wouldn’t actually like do anything because the people that were convicted are already, like, on watch and all that stuff anyway.”

In the end, Roske allegedly said he thought that killing Kavanaugh would have a more positive impact — and apparently came to this conclusion over a leaked draft copy of the Supreme Court decision that overturned the right to an abortion.

“I’ve been suicidal for a long time, and when I saw that the leaked draft, it made me upset and then it made me want to — I don’t know,” Roske allegedly said. “I was under the — I was under the delusion that I could make the world a better place by killing him.”

The defendant also allegedly said hearing about the leak in the case stylized as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health made him want to do “something positive before I die.”

“And was it just the leaked decision that made you angry, in what way?” an interrogator asked. I’m just curious. You don’t need to answer that. It has nothing to do with anything.”

To which Roske allegedly replied: “From a civil rights perspective.”

The filings also contained the transcript of the June 8, 2022, 911 call in which Roske turned himself in.

One section reads:

THE DISPATCHER: And you said you came from California. Do you know someone down here?

MR. ROSKE: Brett Kavanaugh.

THE DISPATCHER: You said red, like that color?

MR. ROSKE: Brett.

THE DISPATCHER: Brett.

MR. ROSKE: The Supreme Court Justice.

THE DISPATCHER: Okay. And you came alone?

MR. ROSKE: Correct.

THE DISPATCHER: Okay. And why were you coming there? Just to hurt yourself and him or what was going to happen?

MR. ROSKE: Correct.

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