A California man will plead guilty to attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022, his lawyers said Wednesday.
Nicholas Roske, who will face trial in June, was arrested after showing up at Kavanaugh’s home with several weapons and zip ties. He previously told Maryland authorities that he planned to break into the Supreme Court justice’s home, kill him, and then commit suicide.
“We write to inform the Court that Mr. Roske wishes to plead guilty to the one-count Indictment pending against him,” Roske’s public defenders, Andrew Szekely and Ellie Marranzini, wrote in a letter.
Roske faces charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life.
“I was under the delusion,” Roske told police, “that I could make the world a better place by killing him.”
He was motivated by what he perceived as the court’s rightward shift in 2022 following a leaked draft opinion that showed the court would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Roske did not enter Kavanaugh’s home, instead showing up and calling 911 after seeing Kavanaugh’s security detail. He said that he intended to hurt the justice, was in danger of harming himself, and needed help, according to court records. His sister convinced him to turn himself in over the phone.
“She wanted to have me as a sibling for the rest of her life and not, you know, with that ending,” Roske told a detective.
He had an unloaded Glock handgun, a pistol light, two magazines of ammunition, a tactical knife, a crowbar, pepper spray, zip ties, duct tape, and a nail punch in his possession, records stated.
When he pleads guilty, Roske will be admitting that he flew from California to Dulles International Airport before taking a taxi to Kavanaugh’s home in Maryland with the intent to kill him.
Roske’s attorneys have argued that officers searched his suitcase without a warrant and did not advise him of his right to an attorney and to remain silent when they arrested him in an attempt to weaken the prosecution’s case.
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Prosecutors said that Roske’s actions of flying across the country to show up outside of Kavanaugh’s house with weapons were enough to constitute attempted murder.
Roske’s attorneys have asked District Judge Deborah Boardman, a former President Joe Biden appointee, to convene the legal parties next week so Roske can enter his plea.