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U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh listens as Taoiseach Micheal Martin addresses attendees at a breakfast event organized by U.S. Vice President JD Vance at his official residence in Washington D.C., during Martin’s weeklong visit to the U.S. on March 12, 2025 (Press Association via AP Images).
The man from California accused of trying to assassinate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is set to enter a guilty plea, as revealed in a court filing on Tuesday in a Maryland federal court.
Trial for Nicholas John Roske, 28, was slated to begin on June 9.
By choosing to plead guilty, the defendant will bypass two additional months of waiting and the tension of a trial. However, Roske will admit his guilt without any plea agreement with the prosecution, as per the notice expressing his intention 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.
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.
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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.
