The person who pleaded responsible to trying to assassinate Supreme Courtroom Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his dwelling in 2022 might be sentenced Friday.
Federal prosecutors are in search of as much as life imprisonment because the defendant, Sophie Roske, pushes for simply eight years.
U.S. District Choose Deborah Boardman will weigh the case’s disturbing proof and considerations from Roske, who not too long ago instructed the courtroom she is transgender, about receiving care in jail underneath Trump administration insurance policies.
Kavanaugh’s tried assassination got here as the courtroom was making ready to overturn constitutional abortion rights, and it has turn out to be one of many highest-profile prosecutions in a rising development of violence and threats in opposition to judges.
Friday’s sentencing additionally comes amid a reignited nationwide dialog surrounding political violence within the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Defendant faces as much as life in jail
The Justice Division on Friday will ask the choose to condemn Roske to between 30 years and life in jail, adopted by lifetime supervised launch.
“This attempt against the life of a Supreme Court Justice was an attack on the entire judicial system that cannot go unpunished,” Legal professional Common Pamela Bondi stated when the request turned public earlier this month.
To take action, prosecutors need the choose to use a terrorism enhancement. They acknowledge Roske’s psychological well being struggles however say she repeatedly confirmed “independence and determination” in a mission of killing Kavanaugh.
“Deterrence in this case must send the message to all those who would plan to employ violence to achieve ideological ends, such as killing judges to change a judicial outcome,” prosecutors wrote. “It must seek to stop individuals well before arriving at the front yard of a sitting judge. It must seek to stop individuals from developing a plan, from plotting four justices’ addresses on a map, from accumulating burglary tools and dangerous weapons for use in the plan, and from traveling thousands of miles with a suitcase full of weapons.”
Roske, in the meantime, is asking for eight years imprisonment adopted by 25 years of supervised launch. Her public defenders level to Roske’s regret and considerations that she gained’t obtain adequate care underneath Trump administration insurance policies requiring transgender girls be housed in male prisons and proscribing their means to obtain gender-affirming care.
Roske’s household additionally submitted letters insisting they assist her as a transgender girl and can present help upon launch.
“Please ship her dwelling,” Roske’s grandfather wrote to the choose.
Within the lead-up to Friday, Roske herself additionally submitted a five-page, handwritten letter. Roske apologized to Kavanaugh and his household for the “harrowing” expertise.
“I’m very glad I didn’t proceed,” Roske wrote. “I am also sorry for contributing to a trend of political violence in American politics. I can now see how destructive and misguided such acts are, and am ashamed not to have recognized these things sooner.”
Eagle Scout to tried murderer
Roske’s extreme psychological well being points within the years main as much as the tried assassination have lengthy been made public, however latest courtroom paperwork and character letters from family and friends paint essentially the most detailed image but of Roske’s upbringing and the way she determined to try to kill Kavanaugh.
The oldest baby of a particular training trainer and an insurance coverage claims adjuster, Roske grew up in Southern California. Roske frolicked in Boy Scouts and at her giant evangelical Christian church, together with volunteering for trip bible faculty.
An autism analysis in second grade didn’t end in a analysis. However experiencing persevering with social points, Roske was dwelling schooled for a number of years. She later begged her mother and father to go to public highschool. Roske’s mother and father relented.
Roske made some buddies and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. However by senior 12 months, Roske’s psychological well being was tumbling, courtroom paperwork present, and she or he started creating signs of despair.
Quickly after commencement, Roske wished to take her personal life. In 2015, she drove to the sting of a cliff close to her church, aspiring to speed up into the canyon beneath.
As a substitute, Roske parked and known as a member of the church youth group. They directed emergency responders to Roske’s location, and it led to a five-day hospitalization.
All of it got here as a shock to Roske’s mother and father, who turned to a church prayer group for steerage.
The prayer group instructed them the suicide try was pushed by “satanic forces.” The group made a home name to take away overseas souvenirs and different “suspicious” gadgets from Roske’s room, courtroom paperwork present.
It led Roske, who was additionally turning into extra politically acutely aware, to turn out to be disillusioned with the church and group she had grown up in.
“Whether it is abortion rights, immigrant rights, the war machine in the Middle East, or any other facet of our national sin that our biblical leaders have nefariously supported – we both have had to look at this fundamental aspect of ourselves, our faith, and let it go,” John Giarratana, who grew up going to church with Roske, wrote in a letter to the choose.
“This relinquishing is a traumatic one. It is radioactive,” Giarratana continued.
Roske continued school and took jobs at Kohl’s and a pest management firm. In 2018, Roske graduated from California State College, Northridge.
Roske continued to battle along with her psychological well being. She says she got here out to herself as a trans girl in 2020. However she was afraid of telling her conservative mother and father, who a couple of years earlier had disapproved of Roske’s sister popping out as homosexual, and saved it a secret from them.
In the meantime, Roske had been accepted to a grasp’s program at Stony Brook College in New York.
Then, the pandemic hit, so Roske derailed plans to attend. Staying dwelling in California, she shut out her mother and father. In the end, she left and moved to a studio residence in Seattle.
“I had closed myself off to Sophie,” Roske’s mother, Colleen, wrote to the choose.
“I was frustrated with her mental health,” the letter continued. “I was frustrated that she didn’t seem to be trying to get well. I couldn’t figure out how to help her and I wasn’t a safe space for her to share her struggles. Our relationship had become combative.”
In Seattle, Roske lacked expertise to reside on her personal, and her plans to earn a residing as a web-based poker participant weren’t coming to fruition. Roske’s mother and father finally helped her return dwelling to Simi Valley, California, the place Roske labored as a part-time substitute trainer.
However by 2022, Roske once more determined she wished to finish her life.
Sister’s intervention stops the plan
That Could, Politico revealed a leaked draft majority opinion indicating the Supreme Courtroom’s conservative majority was weeks away from overturning Roe v. Wade. Roske heard concerning the leak and protests breaking out outdoors Kavanaugh and different justices’ houses.
Prosecutors say Roske then “meticulously researched” an assassination plot over weeks and recognized Kavanaugh’s handle by cross-referencing an article photograph.
She Googled “how much force do you need to stab someone’s neck” and bought a Glock 17 pistol, ammunition, cable ties, pepper spray and a lock choose, amongst different gadgets, courtroom data present.
“i could at least get one, which would change the votes for decades to come. [A]nd I am shooting for 3,” Roske messaged a person on Discord on Could 27.
Roske waited for her mother and father to go to Hawaii for trip. Then, she headed to the airport in Los Angeles for a flight to Washington Dulles Worldwide Airport.
Roske tried to make the journey on June 6 however arrived too late to verify a bag, which was wanted to move the weapons. As a substitute, Roske took a flight the following night.
As soon as at Dulles, Roske took a taxi to Kavanaugh’s dwelling in Maryland. A receipt reveals Roske paid a $66.30 fare and left a $9.94 tip.
“They really weren’t outside the house,” Roske later described Kavanaugh’s road to investigators. “I noticed immediately that there were people sitting outside and this was a very like empty neighborhood, so I was like, okay, they’re keeping a lookout.”
In the course of the taxi trip, Roske had texted her sister, “I love you.” The sister grew involved and positioned a name. After studying of Roske’s intentions, she satisfied Roske to contact 911.
“I’m having thoughts,” Roske instructed the 911 operator, a transcript reveals. The operator saved Roske on the road till police arrived on-scene, who then took Roske into custody.
After being detained, Roske confessed to investigators.
“My plan was to kill Mr. Kavanaugh and then myself,” she instructed them, in accordance with a transcript.
She pointed to the leaked abortion draft and the courtroom’s pending Second Modification case.
“I was under the delusion that I could make the world a better place by killing him,” Roske stated.
Prosecutors charged Roske with one depend of trying to assassinate a Supreme Courtroom justice.
Whereas cleansing her room after the arrest, Roske’s mom, Colleen, found her baby is transgender.
Inside a suitcase was a hospitalization discharge paper for “Sophie Roske.”
