The Bashful Assassin
Hello. I want to talk about something that’s been gnawing at me for a few weeks. It concerns a spectacular criminal case that has been overtaken and overshadowed by more immediate and more universally impactful events.
I saw it as an issue of social injustice and political zealotry, but after noodling around with the facts for a while, and consulting one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the country, and stewing over it a little more, I decided that this really comes down to personal judgment and individual conscience — a question any of us can address, even without training in jurisprudence. In my case, “us” is “you.” I’ll ask you to vote at the end.
First, a necessary, if absurd, disclaimer. I am unequivocally opposed to murder — any intentional killing for malicious purposes — whether it is motivated by material gain, hatred, prejudice, jealousy, revenge or political extremism. Motives and intent may not be immaterial — they may militate for mercy or mitigation — but they should not be twisted or manipulated to confer a mantle of innocence on the patently guilty.
Okay! We’re at arm’s length now.
A few months ago, a woman named Sophie Roske pleaded guilty to the attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Four weeks ago, a federal district judge in Maryland sentenced her to eight years and one month in prison and a lifetime of supervised release. This outraged Pam Bondi, the attorney general of the United States. She called the penalty grotesquely lenient — her prosecutors had asked for 30 years —and has vowed to appeal. This is a rarity. Prosecutors seldom appeal sentences on such grounds.
Others in the public eye agreed with Bondi. The Washington Post, for example, carried an op-ed column under this headline: “Eight years for a would-be assassin defies common sense”. The author was Jill Jacobson, who is affiliated with The Independent Women’s Law Center, a conservative legal group favoring, among other things, traditional social values. Her primary argument cited the element of the criminal justice system designed to prevent future transgressions. “The failure of this judge to promote deterrence in the attempted assassination of a public official,” Jacobson wrote, “is outrageous.”
Fox News ran this image, under the headline “Soft on Crime.”
No one seems to have argued that the sentence was too severe or otherwise unjust.
Ahem.
Here are the facts. Nothing here is in dispute and to my knowledge no additional details have been presented that seem material to the judgment in the case.
On June 8, 2022, someone then known as Nicholas John Roske, 26, traveled to the Washington D.C. area from his home in Simi Valley California with the clear intention of assassinating Kavanaugh. Roske dressed all in black. He brought with him burglar tools, zip-ties, a tactical knife, pepper spray, a crow bar, duct tape and a fully loaded Glock 17. He had researched Kavanaugh’s home address in Chevy Chase, Md., and traveled there by taxi, with his tools in a backpack. He was unquestionably intent on criminal mayhem.
Roske had not coordinated his actions with anyone else. No one has alleged a conspiracy. He had no criminal record. What he had was an intense political hatred for Kavanaugh and other jurists who appeared poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. He also feared the court would loosen gun controls.
He was emotionally distraught — depressed and suicidal — and on the cusp of sexual transition. He was planning, he later told investigators, to kill two other right-wing justices after Kavanaugh, and then possibly kill himself.
When Roske arrived at Kavanaugh’s house, he noticed that the place was patrolled by two federal agents. Panicked, he walked down the block away from the house and texted his sister to confess his location and his intent. She talked him out of it. But Roske did not simply walk away and go home, as he could have. He called 911 and turned himself in. He told the operator: “I’m standing now, but I can sit, whatever. I want to be fully compliant.” He was arrested without incident. The rest would be a matter for the courts.
By court time, Nicholas Roske was Sophie Roske. She said she was filled with remorse. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman cited this fact in sentencing her, as well as the fact that no physical harm was done, and that Roske struggled with mental health, and of course that she had turned herself in. But the final rationale that the judge offered was the one that seems to have most bothered Bondi: Boardman said that she took into account the fact that a transgender woman would be housed in an all-male facility, potentially interfering with any gender-affirming care.
So.
I find myself wondering whether there was even an assassination “attempt.” To me, if one attempts to assassinate someone, one, say, aims a gun. Throws a grenade. Wields a knife. Laces coffee with rat poison. One is captured; one does not turn oneself in. Squeaky Fromme was an an attempted assassin. Sara Jane Moore was an attempted assassin. John Hinckley was an attempted assassin.
Was Sophie Roske?
As I said, I had a long talk with a prominent criminal defense attorney. I am not going to tell you what he said. I want to poll you, and I believe his views would be disproportionately influential. We will perhaps discuss this later. These polls are not about interpretation of the law. They are about gut feelings.
Here are the Gene Pool Gene Polls:
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From the mailbag:
Q: It seems like this country is being run by the Ewells from To Kill a Mockingbird. From Sparknotes: “The Ewell family sits near the bottom of Maycomb’s social hierarchy with only the Black community beneath them, and much of the family’s pride comes from this false, over-inflated sense of superiority over others.” It’s stunning how much many voters are willing to give up (financial security, healthcare, etc.) so they can keep that sense of superiority.
A: I was going to quibble about just how racial this is, but decided that yes, you are right. The only immigrants Trump and his acolytes want to embrace are white South Africans.
Lyndon Johnson: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pockets.”
Bob Dylan:
The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
And the marshals and cops get the same
But the poor white man’s used in the hands of them all like a tool
He’s taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
‘Bout the shape that he’s in
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their gamez
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It’s. almost like we’ve been through this before, isn’t it?
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Good, then.
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