A woman who attempted to assassinate US Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison.
Judge Deborah Boardman sentenced Sophie Roske to 97 months behind bars after the 29 year old pleaded guilty to the attempted murder charge.
Roske, who has since come out as being transgender, was arrested in June 2002 near Kavanaugh’s home in Maryland. She was armed with a gun and a knife and was carrying zip ties, and was dressed in black where she had a taxi drop her off in the judges neighbourhood at 1am.
After her arrest Roske told police that she was angered by a leaked draft opinion that showed that the Supreme Court may overturn the landmark Rowe v Wade decision that made abortion legal across the United States.
US Marshalls located Roske near the judges home after she had called emergency services and shared that she was considering attacking the judge and taking her own life.
In court Roske apologised to the judge and his family.
“I sincerely apologize to the justice and his family,” Roske said in court, adding that “this tragic mistake will follow me for the rest of my life.”
Prosecutors had been asking for Roske to be sentenced to a much longer prison term of at least 30 years, but the judge disagreed citing the offenders mental health status, and the fact she had called 911 to speak about her situation.
US Attorney General has declared that the sentence will be appealed, describing it as “woefully insufficient”
“The attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a disgusting attack against our entire judicial system by a profoundly disturbed individual,” Bondi said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will be appealing the woefully insufficient sentence imposed by the district court, which does not reflect the horrific facts of this case.”
Throughout the statement the Attorney General used Roske’s birth name and male pronouns. FBI Director Kath Patel also called for a harsher penalty.
“Violence against federal judges or other public officials is unacceptable and will be met by the full force of the law. The FBI will work aggressively with our law enforcement partners to detect and stop these schemes and protect our nation.” Patel said.
