Woman Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison for Attempted Assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh

A woman has been sentenced for attempting to assassinate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

On Friday, Oct. 3, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman sentenced Sophie Roske, 29, to 97 months — eight years and one month — in prison for the June 2022 attempted murder of Kavanaugh, 60, NBC News, CBS News and CNN reported.

PEOPLE was unable to reach an attorney for Roske for comment. 

Prosecutors requested a 30-year sentence, and the Justice Department plans to appeal Boardman’s decision. In a statement, Attorney General Pam Bondi called the sentence “woefully insufficient,” adding that it “does not reflect the horrific facts of this case.”

NBC News reported that Boardman said Roske “has taken full responsibility for her actions.”

Roske was 26 when law enforcement agencies arrested her near Kavanaugh’s home.

According to CNN, Roske turned herself in to police before carrying out the crime by dialing 911 and telling an operator that she needed psychiatric help and planned to hurt Kavanaugh and herself.

“I sincerely apologize to the justice and his family for the considerable distress I have put them through,” Roske told Kavanaugh in court Friday before both his family and hers.

Additionally, she said she was sorry for “contributing to the fear that judges feel while doing their job,” per CBS News. 

Referring to her actions as “selfish and misguided,” Roske told the court, “I have been portrayed as a monster, and this tragic mistake I have made will follow me the rest of my life.” 

Roske also said she should have known how “poor” her mental health was at the time of the crime. “I have been portrayed as a monster and this tragic mistake will follow me for the rest of my life,” she said, according to CNN.

However, according to NBC News, Coreen Mao, the attorney representing the Department of Justice, argued that Roske’s actions were premeditated because she purchased weapons nine different times, and searched online about serial killers and mass shootings. 

“The primary mission was assassination, not suicide,” Mao said.

Roske told the court in previous filings that their client had a history of mental health issues and had previously checked herself into mental health facilities on multiple occasions, per CNN. 

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“Deeply depressed and acutely suicidal, she reasoned that she could give her life some meaning if she were able to stop the Supreme Court from overturning Roe v. Wade,” Roske’s attorneys wrote in court filings, “a decision she felt certain would result in pain and suffering to others.”

Roske was charged under her legal name, Nicholas J. Roske. Her attorneys said in September that she was transitioning. Judge Boardman said she was given a lower sentence due to an executive order from President Donald Trump that requires transgender women be held at male-only federal prisons, reports The New York Times. Boardman said this could interfere with Roske’s gender transition care, and noted that the sentence includes supervised release for the rest of Roske’s life, per the outlet.