GREENBELT, Md. — A California resident who attempted to assassinate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his Maryland home was sentenced Friday to over eight years in prison by a federal judge, who imposed a punishment that is significantly more lenient than the Justice Department’s recommendation.

Sophie Roske, a transgender woman charged under her legal name, Nicholas Roske, had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman sentenced her to eight years and one month behind bars followed by a lifetime of court supervision. Prosecutors had asked for a prison sentence of no less than 30 years, which was the low end of the range recommended by sentencing guidelines.

Roske, then 26, had a pistol, a knife, zip ties and burglary tools in her possession when a taxi dropped her off outside Kavanaugh’s home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just after 1 a.m. on June 8, 2022. Noticing two U.S. Marshals Service deputies guarding the residence, Roske kept walking down the street and took a phone call from her sister. Then she dialed 911, reported having suicidal and homicidal thoughts and said she needed psychiatric help.

The judge said law enforcement didn’t know anything about Roske’s plot until she called 911 and reported her crime unprompted. Boardman described Roske’s conduct as “reprehensible” but credited her with abandoning the plot before police detected her presence in Kavanaugh’s neighborhood.

“This is an atypical defendant in an atypical case,” she said.