The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge in Maryland to move forward with the trial of a man accused of plotting to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Federal prosecutors said in a court filing they have not been able to agree upon the terms for a pretrial resolution of the case in discussions with attorneys for Nicholas John Roske, who authorities said they found near the justice’s Maryland residence in June 2022.
The government request to set dates for motions and a trial is the first public sign of movement in the case in at least a year and a half, as defense attorneys investigated the allegations and “potential mitigation factors” for Roske, according to court records.
Roske remains in custody and was indicted on a charge of attempt to assassinate a justice of the United States. His attorneys made a motion in July 2022 to suppress statements he made to law enforcement officials at the site of his arrest and later at a police station.
Police took Roske into custody after he called 911, reported that he was having suicidal thoughts and said he had a firearm in his suitcase, according to a federal affidavit. The man also told the call taker he came from California to kill a specific Supreme Court justice, authorities said.
He had zip ties, a pistol, ammunition, pepper spray, a tactical chest rig, a tactical knife and a hammer, authorities said.
Roske later told a detective he was upset about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and the leak of a draft Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, according to the affidavit.
Roske indicated he thought the justice would side with decisions that would loosen gun control laws, according to the filing, and told authorities he started to think about how to give his life a purpose and decided to kill the justice.
Roske also indicated that he had bought a pistol and other things “for the purpose of breaking into the Justice’s residence and killing the Justice as well as himself,” according to the affidavit.
A separate affidavit outlined discussions Roske allegedly had online, including in which he spoke about going after multiple justices on the court. Authorities filed the affidavit in 2022 as part of a search warrant application.
Roske, talking with an associate online, wrote that he was going to stop Roe v. Wade from being overturned.
“What u tryna do,” wrote the associate.
“Remove some people from the supreme court,” Roske allegedly responded, according to the affidavit.
Later in the back and forth, Roske allegedly wrote: “I could get at least one, which would change the votes for decades to come, and I am shooting for 3,” according to the court document.
In the weeks leading up to his arrest, the search history on Roske’s cell phone included searches for “quietest semi auto rifle,” “Reagan assassination attempt,” “most effective place to stab someone,” “assassin skills” and “how to be stealthy,” according to the affidavit.
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