The man who planned to assassinate conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022 was sentenced Friday to eight years and one month in prison.

The man who planned to assassinate conservative US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022, in part because of a ruling on abortion rights, was sentenced Friday to eight years and one month in prison.

The Justice Department had requested a 30-year prison sentence for Sophie Roske, 29, arguing that her behavior "fitted squarely within the definition of terrorism: the use of violence or threats of violence to achieve a political objective."

She was charged and convicted under the name Nicholas, but has since transitioned and now identifies as Sophie Roske.

Suicidal thoughts

Sophie Roske admitted to traveling from California to Maryland, where Judge Kavanaugh resided, in June 2022 with the intention of killing him before taking her own life. After arriving at the judge's home in suburban Washington, she "walked away" from the house and called emergency services to report thoughts of suicide and homicide, according to the defense.

She was arrested without difficulty by the police, who found in her luggage a handgun, two magazines and ammunition, a knife, tear gas, handcuffs, a bulletproof vest...

During her interrogation, she told investigators she was angry at the conservative-majority Supreme Court over a proposed reversal of jurisprudence on abortion rights and a deadly Texas school shooting.

"Dismaying grief"

His goal was "to strike at the heart of our democracy, to alter the trajectory of the judiciary for decades to come," the ministry stressed, noting that his initial plan was to assassinate several conservative Supreme Court justices, appointed for life.

But the judge noted that the defendant, who pleaded guilty in April, had surrendered herself to the police on her own initiative after calling emergency services, according to US media present at the hearing.

She subsequently sentenced her to 97 months in prison, saying she hoped the sentence would act as a deterrent to anyone who threatened a judge, according to the same sources. Justice Minister Pam Bondi later announced she was appealing, denouncing the sentence in a statement as "appalling and inadequate."