A California man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to trying to kill Brett Kavanaugh at the US supreme court justice’s home in a suburb of Washington DC nearly three years ago.
Nicholas Roske was arrested near Kavanaugh’s home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in June 2022. Roske was armed with a gun and a knife, was carrying zip ties and was dressed in black when he arrived in the neighborhood by taxi just after 1am, authorities said.
US district judge Deborah Boardman is scheduled to sentence Roske on 3 October. Prosecutors say federal sentencing guidelines call for a term of 30 years to life in prison.
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 9 June.
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 US 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 US 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 bought tactical gear, a lock pick, black face paint, a glass cutter, a suction cup and other items that he took to Maryland.
On 2 June 2022, Roske bought a Glock 9mm 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 bought 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 7 June 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.
