Man Who Attacked Paul Pelosi Receives Life Sentence without Parole
David DePape has now been handed prison sentences for both federal and state charges.
A California judge has sentenced the man who was convicted of attacking the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with a hammer in 2022 to life in prison without parole.
In June, a San Francisco jury found David DePape guilty of aggravated kidnapping, first-degree burglary, and false imprisonment of an elder.
DePape pleaded guilty to those charges.
Judge Harry Dorfman with the Superior Court of San Francisco County rejected DePape’s attorney’s request for a new trial.
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Another of DePape’s attorneys asked that the judge take into consideration DePape’s mental health, which made him more influenced by online propaganda.
When the San Francisco police arrived at the Pelosi residence, according to the affidavit, “Pelosi and DePape were both holding a hammer with one hand and DePape had his other hand holding onto Pelosi’s forearm.”
After officers asked both Pelosi and DePape to drop the hammer, DePape pulled the hammer from Pelosi’s hand and struck him in the head.
Officers restrained DePape and investigated the scene, finding that a glass door had been broken.
They also found zip ties, a roll of tape, rope, a hammer, a pair of rubber gloves, and a journal.
When Pelosi recovered and was able to speak with police, he said he had never seen DePape before.
DePape later stated that he meant to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage for political interrogation, stating that if she told the truth, he would let her go; however, if she didn’t, he “was going to break ‘her kneecaps.’”
He told officers during his mirandized interview that he “was certain that Nancy would not have told the truth” and claimed that she was the “leader of the pack of lies told by the Democratic Party.”
He admitted that he broke into the house through the glass door with a hammer.
He asked for Nancy Pelosi, who Paul Pelosi said was not present.
DePape said when Paul Pelosi moved away to call 911, he didn’t run because he believed “he was fighting tyranny without the option of surrender.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
