Man Accused of Attempted Assassination of Brett Kavanaugh Could Be Tried Soon, Amid Rising Threats to Judges

More than two years after Nicholas John Roske was charged with attempting to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and as security threats against federal judges are on the rise, prosecutors are pushing to reach a plea deal in the case by next week or take it to trial. Mr. Roske is charged with attempting to murder Justice Kavanaugh following the 2022 leak of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Prosecutors say he traveled to Maryland from California and was found near the justice’s residence armed with a tactical chest rig, a tactical knife, zip ties, a crow bar, a pistol and ammunition, pepper spray, and tools. Mr. Roske has pleaded not guilty, and for the past two years, little has progressed publicly on the case as federal prosecutors and defense attorneys have been in discussions for a plea deal. The government’s most recent status report says that while the parties are engaging in plea discussions, if an agreement isn’t reached by July 19 then “the government will request that the Court conduct a scheduling conference in order to set a trial date.” The court filing notes that the defense “has indicated that he does not object to this request.” The Justice Department’s federal prosecutors declined to comment when reached by the Sun. Mr. Roske’s defense attorneys did not respond to a request for comment. The long timeline leading up to the most recent court filing is typical in these cases, as the Sun has reported, as investigations into the suspects are conducted — and an estimated 90 percent of cases end in pretrial resolutions, as trials can be expensive, time-consuming, and include higher sentences. In the Roske case, one analyst told the Sun, both parties likely would have had an incentive not to go to trial — as Mr. Roske would face increased penalties and as the prosecutors could have the burden of proving his mental state and the risk of losing the trial. Mr. Roske’s alleged murder attempt has received attention this week following a carjacking attempt by a teenager outside of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s home at Washington, D.C. Both incidents have highlighted what the United States Marshals describe as a “sharp rise in threats and inappropriate communications against federal judges” and other court employees in recent years, spiking to more than 4,000 in 2020 from less than 1,000 incidents in 2015 .In one especially high-profile 2020 incident, Senator Schumer — while speaking outside the Supreme Court about abortion — called out Justices Neil Gorsuch and Kavanaugh by name, telling them “you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price.”“You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” he said. He later walked back the comments, saying that they came out differently than intended.In the wake of threats against both Supreme Court justices and other federal judges, the federal judiciary in February requested $805.9 million in funding for security in Fiscal Year 2025, an increase of 5.2 percent from the previous year. Congressional appropriators in June recommended that Congress grants $777.4 million in funding for court security — less than the judiciary had requested but $27 million more than the prior year. The House appropriation committee’s report highlights increased funding for protection of the Supreme Court justices at their homes.

Man Accused of Attempted Assassination of Brett Kavanaugh Could Be Tried Soon, Amid Rising Threats to Judges

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