Man accused of attempting to kill Kavanaugh gets trial date

A California man will go before a jury in Maryland next June on charges of attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a federal judge ordered Tuesday.

Nicholas Roske was arrested near Kavanaugh’s home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in the early morning of June 8, 2022, allegedly carrying a bag containing a Glock pistol, ammunition, a tactical knife, tools, duct tape and soft-soled boots that can be used to move quietly.

Wearing a dark red jail smock, Roske, now 28, appeared in court Tuesday for the first time in nearly two years. During a 20-minute hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, he did not address the court as U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte discussed a schedule with lawyers on both sides.

Federal prosecutors and Roske’s defense team had spent months negotiating a potential plea deal, but prosecutors indicated last month that the two sides could not agree on a deal and asked the judge to schedule a trial.

“The parties have engaged in lengthy discussions about the status of this case, and we reached the point that we need to set a trial date,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Gavin said Tuesday.

Roske triggered his own arrest by calling 911 after exiting a taxi near Kavanaugh’s home and walking to a house nearby. Roske has been in jail since then, but the case has lingered with little outward sign of progress during the protracted plea negotiations. The June 9, 2025, trial date is three years and a day after Roske’s arrest.

Messitte said he called the hearing because the case’s “profile” made it important to “let the public know what’s going on.” He asked a public defender for Roske, Andrew Szekely, whether a mental evaluation would be part of the case. The defense attorney said no.

According to prosecutors, Roske told investigators that he wanted to kill Kavanaugh to head off a forthcoming Supreme Court decision on abortion and out of anger over the court’s direction on gun rights.