David DePape, man who attacked Nancy Pelosi's husband, sentenced to life in prison without parole

ByJANIE HAR AP logo
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Attacker of Nancy Pelosi's husband sentenced to life without parole
Attacker of Nancy Pelosi's husband sentenced to life without paroleDavid DePape, man serving 30 years for attacking Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, is sentenced to life without parole in state charges.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The man who was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for attacking the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a hammer in their California home was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole following a separate state trial.

A San Francisco jury in June found David DePape guilty of charges including aggravated kidnapping, first-degree burglary and false imprisonment of an elder.

Before issuing the sentence, Judge Harry Dorfman dismissed arguments from DePape's attorneys that he be granted a new trial for the 2022 attack against Paul Pelosi, who was 82 years old at the time.

"It's my intention that Mr. DePape will never get out of prison, he can never be paroled," Dorfman said while handing out the punishment.

One of the defense attorneys, Adam Lipson, asked Dorfman before the sentence was handed down to consider DePape's mental health and isolation that made him susceptible to online propaganda.

"This is a man who has always been a peaceful, law-abiding person up until his activation," Lipson said.

David DePape, left, is seen recording a wedding on Dec. 19, 2013 in San Francisco. Image on the right was taken from surveillance video released in the attack on Paul Pelosi in his San Francisco home on Oct. 28, 2022.
David DePape is seen recording a wedding on Dec. 19, 2013 in San Francisco. Surveillance image on the right is the attack on Paul Pelosi in his home on Oct. 28, 2022.
AP Photo/Eric Risberg and SFPD bodycam footage

When given the chance to address the court prior to his sentencing, DePape, dressed in prison orange and with his brown hair in a ponytail, spoke at length about Sept. 11 being an inside job, his ex-wife being replaced by a body double, and his government-provided attorneys conspiring against him.

"I'm a psychic," DePape told the court, reading from sheets of paper. "The more I meditate, the more psychic I get."

In a letter read in court by the victim's daughter, Christine Pelosi, Paul Pelosi called for the maximum sentence, saying the "last peaceful sleep" he had ended abruptly "when the defendant violently broke into my home, burst into my bedroom and stood over my bed with a hammer and zip ties demanding to see my wife, yelling 'Where's Nancy?'"

He said the attack left him with bumps on his head, a metal plate in it, dizziness and nerve damage in his left hand. Sleeping alone at home evokes memories of the attack, he said.

Previously, a federal jury convicted DePape of assaulting a federal official's family member and attempting to kidnap a federal official. In May, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison during an unusual resentencing hearing that resulted from judicial error. The punishment in the state trial will run concurrently with the federal sentence.

DePape's attorneys have said the state trial amounted double jeopardy following his federal conviction. Even though the criminal counts were not exactly the same, the two cases stem from the same act, they argued. The judge did dismiss some of the state charges but kept others that were not covered by the federal case.

The Oct. 28, 2022, attack on Paul Pelosi was captured on police body camera video just days before the midterm elections and shocked the political world. He suffered head wounds, including a skull fracture that was mended with plates and screws. His right arm and hand were also injured.

DePape admitted during his federal trial that he planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage, record his interrogation of her, and "break her kneecaps" if she did not admit to the lies he said she told about "Russiagate," a reference to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

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