Trial date set for man accused of attempting to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh

WASHINGTON — A California man will go before a federal jury next June to face accusations he traveled across the country in 2022 to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Nicholas Roske, 28, appeared alongside his lawyers in a federal court in Greenbelt on Tuesday. The hearing was Roske’s first appearance in court in nearly two years. He’s been detained without bond since his arrest in June 2022 on a charge of attempting to assassinate a justice of the United States.

Roske was arrested outside Kavanaugh’s Montgomery County home after telling an emergency dispatcher he was having thoughts of harming himself and Kavanaugh and had a firearm in his suitcase. A search of Roske’s luggage after his arrest turned up a 9mm Glock 17 pistol with two magazines and ammo, a black tactical chest rig, a knife, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, a crowbar and duct tape. In a post-arrest interview with police, Roske reportedly said he was upset about the leak of the then-draft decision that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade as well as the possibility that Kavanaugh would vote to loosen gun control laws.

“ROSKE stated that he began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided that he would kill the Supreme Court Justice after finding the Justice’s Montgomery County address on the Internet,” prosecutors said in court filings.

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Roske’s case drew nationwide attention amid an increasing trend of threats to judges and other public officials. Following his arrest, however, there have been few developments over the past two years. Since October 2022 – Roske’s last appearance in court – public filings in the case have been limited to periodic status reports. In November 2023, assistant federal public defender Andrew R. Szekely, who is representing Roske, said the parties had begun negotiating a possible plea agreement. 

Last month, federal prosecutors told the court the parties had not been able to agree to a deal and requested a hearing to set a schedule leading to trial.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte scheduled a jury trial to begin the week of June 9 next year. He also scheduled a motions hearing on Feb. 18 to hear arguments on Roske’s outstanding motion to suppress statements he made to police following his arrest.

Federal law requires a confession be “voluntarily given” to be admissible, and motions to suppress such statements are common filings. Judges consider a number of factors to determine whether to grant such requests, including whether a defendant was properly read their Miranda Rights, whether they were informed they had the right to an attorney and whether an attorney was present. Defendants can waive those rights, however – as a federal judge ruled a California man did when he confessed to the FBI he’d repeatedly electroshocked former D.C. Police Officer Mike Fanone during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

In a filing in July 2022, Roske’s public defender asked Messitte require the government show Roske had been properly informed of his rights before he allegedly told police he’d decided upon killing Kavanaugh — or else bar the confession from trial.