The individual who pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in 2022 will be sentenced Friday.
Federal prosecutors are seeking up to life imprisonment as the defendant, Sophie Roske, pushes for just eight years.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman will weigh the case’s disturbing evidence and concerns from Roske, who recently told the court she is transgender, about receiving care in prison under Trump administration policies.
Kavanaugh’s attempted assassination came as the court was preparing to overturn constitutional abortion rights, and it has become one of the highest-profile prosecutions in a rising trend of violence and threats against judges.
Friday’s sentencing also comes amid a reignited national conversation surrounding political violence in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Defendant faces up to life in prison
The Justice Department on Friday will ask the judge to sentence Roske to between 30 years and life in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release.
“This attempt against the life of a Supreme Court Justice was an attack on the entire judicial system that cannot go unpunished,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said when the request became public earlier this month.
To do so, prosecutors want the judge to apply a terrorism enhancement. They acknowledge Roske’s mental health struggles but say she repeatedly showed “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, meanwhile, is asking for eight years imprisonment followed by 25 years of supervised release. Her public defenders point to Roske’s remorse and concerns that she won’t receive sufficient care under Trump administration policies requiring transgender women be housed in male prisons and restricting their ability to receive gender-affirming care.
Roske’s family also submitted letters insisting they support her as a transgender woman and will provide assistance upon release.
“Please send her home,” Roske’s grandfather wrote to the judge.
In the lead-up to Friday, Roske herself also submitted a five-page, handwritten letter. Roske apologized to Kavanaugh and his family for the “harrowing” experience.
“I am very glad I did not continue,” 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 attempted assassin
Roske’s severe mental health issues in the years leading up to the attempted assassination have long been made public, but recent court documents and character letters from friends and family paint the most detailed picture yet of Roske’s upbringing and how she decided to try and kill Kavanaugh.
The oldest child of a special education teacher and an insurance claims adjuster, Roske grew up in Southern California. Roske spent time in Boy Scouts and at her large evangelical Christian church, including volunteering for vacation bible school.
An autism evaluation in second grade didn’t result in a diagnosis. But experiencing continuing social issues, Roske was home schooled for several years. She later begged her parents to go to public high school. Roske’s parents relented.
Roske made some friends and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. But by senior year, Roske’s mental health was tumbling, court documents show, and she began developing symptoms of depression.
Soon after graduation, Roske wanted to take her own life. In 2015, she drove to the edge of a cliff near her church, intending to accelerate into the canyon below.
Instead, Roske parked and called a member of the church youth group. They directed emergency responders to Roske’s location, and it led to a five-day hospitalization.
It all came as a shock to Roske’s parents, who turned to a church prayer group for guidance.
The prayer group told them the suicide attempt was driven by “satanic forces.” The group made a house call to remove foreign souvenirs and other “suspicious” items from Roske’s room, court documents show.
It led Roske, who was also becoming more politically conscious, to become disillusioned with the church and community 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 judge.
“This relinquishing is a traumatic one. It is radioactive,” Giarratana continued.
Roske continued college and took jobs at Kohl’s and a pest control company. In 2018, Roske graduated from California State University, Northridge.
Roske continued to struggle with her mental health. She says she came out to herself as a trans woman in 2020. But she was afraid of telling her conservative parents, who a few years earlier had disapproved of Roske’s sister coming out as gay, and kept it a secret from them.
Meanwhile, Roske had been accepted to a master’s program at Stony Brook University in New York.
Then, the pandemic hit, so Roske derailed plans to attend. Staying home in California, she shut out her parents. Ultimately, she left and moved to a studio apartment in Seattle.
“I had closed myself off to Sophie,” Roske’s mom, Colleen, wrote to the judge.
“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 skills to live on her own, and her plans to earn a living as an online poker player weren’t coming to fruition. Roske’s parents eventually helped her return home to Simi Valley, California, where Roske worked as a part-time substitute teacher.
But by 2022, Roske again decided she wanted to end her life.
Sister’s intervention stops the plan
That May, Politico published a leaked draft majority opinion indicating the Supreme Court’s conservative majority was weeks away from overturning Roe v. Wade. Roske heard about the leak and protests breaking out outside Kavanaugh and other justices’ homes.
Prosecutors say Roske then “meticulously researched” an assassination plot over weeks and identified Kavanaugh’s address by cross-referencing an article photo.
She Googled “how much force do you need to stab someone’s neck” and purchased a Glock 17 pistol, ammunition, cable ties, pepper spray and a lock pick, among other items, court records show.
“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 user on Discord on May 27.
Roske waited for her parents to head to Hawaii for vacation. Then, she headed to the airport in Los Angeles for a flight to Washington Dulles International Airport.
Roske attempted to make the trip on June 6 but arrived too late to check a bag, which was needed to transport the weapons. Instead, Roske took a flight the next evening.
Once at Dulles, Roske took a taxi to Kavanaugh’s home in Maryland. A receipt shows Roske paid a $66.30 fare and left a $9.94 tip.
“They really weren’t outside the house,” Roske later described Kavanaugh’s street 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.”
During the taxi ride, Roske had texted her sister, “I love you.” The sister grew concerned and placed a call. After learning of Roske’s intentions, she convinced Roske to contact 911.
“I’m having thoughts,” Roske told the 911 operator, a transcript shows. The operator kept Roske on the line until 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 told them, according to a transcript.
She pointed to the leaked abortion draft and the court’s pending Second Amendment case.
“I was under the delusion that I could make the world a better place by killing him,” Roske said.
Prosecutors charged Roske with one count of attempting to assassinate a Supreme Court justice.
While cleaning her room after the arrest, Roske’s mother, Colleen, discovered her child is transgender.
Inside a suitcase was a hospitalization discharge paper for “Sophie Roske.”
