Trial date set for Kavanaugh’s would-be assassin

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GREENBELT, Md. — A trial is scheduled to start in June 2025 for a California man charged with trying to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in a suburb of Washington.

U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte set the trial date for Nicholas John Roske during a hearing Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland. It was the first hearing for the case in nearly two years.

Roske, then 26, of Simi Valley, California, was arrested near Kavanaugh’s home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in June 2022. Roske was armed with a gun and a knife, carried zip ties and was dressed in black when he arrived in the neighborhood by taxi just after 1 a.m., federal authorities said.

Roske pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder a justice of the United States. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

After his arrest, Roske told a police detective that he was upset by a leaked draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court intended to overrule Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit.

Killing one jurist could change the decisions of the court “for decades to come,” Roske wrote online before adding, “I am shooting for three,” according to authorities.

The leaked draft opinion led to protests, including at several of the justices’ homes. Roske’s arrest spurred the U.S. House to approve a bill expanding around-the-clock security protection to the justices’ families.

Roske also said he was upset over the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, and believed that Kavanaugh would vote to loosen gun control laws, the affidavit said.

Roske was apprehended after he called 911 and told a police dispatcher that he was near Kavanaugh’s home and wanted to take his own life. Roske was spotted by two U.S. marshals who were part of 24-hour security provided to the justices.

Roske, who is jailed in Baltimore while awaiting trial, was led into the courtroom in handcuffs and and shackles Tuesday. He did not speak during the 20-minute hearing.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin June 9. “Selecting a jury in this case may take a little longer,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Gavin said in court Tuesday. The trial is expected to last about a week.

In a court filing last month, Gavin said prosecutors and defense attorneys were unable to negotiate the terms of a “pretrial resolution of this case,” such as a plea agreement.

During a hearing in October 2022, Messitte said there was a “very high likelihood” that he would order a mental evaluation for Roske to determine if he was fit to assist his defense, enter a possible guilty plea or stand trial.

Andrew Szekely, one of Roske’s attorneys, said during Tuesday’s hearing that the defense is not requesting a court-ordered mental evaluation of Roske.