Federal prosecutors said Friday they will seek to imprison the person who attempted to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in 2022 for at least 30 years and up to life.
Prosecutors’ sentencing memo came as the defendant’s public defenders newly indicated their client now uses female pronouns and goes by Sophie Roske.
“She has not asked to recaption the case,” the public defenders wrote, noting that Roske’s legal name hadn’t changed.
“Out of respect for Ms. Roske, the balance of this pleading and counsel’s in-court argument will refer to her as Sophie and use female pronouns,” it continued.
Roske will be sentenced Oct. 3 after pleading guilty to a felony charge of attempting to assassinate a Supreme Court justice in April.
Roske admitted to traveling from California to Kavanaugh’s home in the Washington, D.C., suburbs in June 2022. After arriving, Roske abandoned the plans after speaking with 911 and a family member.
Authorities recovered a pistol, crowbar, ammunition, zip ties and other weapons.
Roske wanted to change the conservative justice’s views on major abortion and gun cases, court documents show. Prosecutors say Roske also sent Discord messages days earlier indicating two other justices were targets.
“The defendant sought single-handedly and irrevocably to alter an entire branch of the United States government through violence,” prosecutors wrote in Friday’s filing.
Their sentencing memo urges U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman to follow the sentencing guidelines range of 30 years to life in prison, describing Roske’s crime as an act of terrorism.
“Roske presented a very real threat to life to an individual and their family members — a threat that showed up at their home in the middle of the night,” prosecutors wrote. “No judicial or court official, or their family, should have to live under the fear and mental toll that they could, on any day, at any time of day or night, be gunned down based on a judicial decision.”
Roske has been treated for mental illness, but prosecutors said it “does not excuse, nor did it cause” the defendant’s decision to travel to Kavanaugh’s home.
Roske’s public defenders had not yet submitted their sentencing memo as of Friday afternoon.
The 2022 incident elevated fears about the rising threats against the Supreme Court justices in recent years, which has continued to be a concern.
Earlier Friday, House Republicans passed a stopgap measure that boosts the Supreme Court’s security fund by $28 million in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The package does not, however, address funding concerns for lower judges’ security.
