State trial of man who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The man sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for bludgeoning Nancy Pelosi’s husband to death with a hammer in their San Francisco home returned to the courtroom Wednesday to face state charges, including attempted murder.

A federal court jury found David DePape, 44, guilty of attempting to take Pelosi hostage and assaulting her husband, Paul Pelosi, after breaking into their home on October 28, 2022, looking for Nancy Pelosi, then-Speaker of the House. A federal judge sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

In the state’s case, the San Francisco District Attorney charged DePape with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary, false imprisonment, threatening to cause death or great bodily harm to a public official, and threatening the staff or family of a public official. DePape pleaded not guilty.

Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Wednesday, a day after DePape’s federal case is resumed so he can speak.

District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley sentenced DePape on May 17 to 20 years for attempting to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and 30 years for attacking Paul Pelosi, the maximum sentence for both counts. The sentences will be served concurrently. Corley did not allow DePape to address the court before the sentencing and corrected her error by resuming that portion of the trial on Tuesday.

DePape’s defense attorneys had asked the judge to sentence him to 14 years in prison, arguing that he was going through a difficult period in his life at the time of the attack, suffered from undiagnosed mental health problems and had no previous convictions.

On Tuesday, Corley apologized to 44-year-old DePape and her lawyers for their mistake and asked if he wanted to address the court.

DePape, wearing an orange shirt and orange pants with his hair tied in a short ponytail, said yes and then began talking quickly about a piece of paper.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” he said, adding that he felt terrible and never meant to hurt Pelosi. He should have left the House when he realized the former speaker was not there.

DePape admitted during his testimony in federal court that he planned to take Nancy Pelosi hostage, interrogate 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 election.

The attack on Paul Pelosi, then 82, was captured on police bodycam video just days before the 2022 midterm elections and sent shockwaves through the political world. He suffered two head injuries, including a skull fracture that was treated with plates and screws that he will have for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.

DePape said he planned to wear an inflatable unicorn costume and record his interrogation of Nancy Pelosi to upload online. Prosecutors say he had rope and zip ties with him. Investigators also found body cameras, a computer and a tablet.

DePape also testified under cross-examination that he told a San Francisco police detective that he hoped to see an injured Pelosi shoved into the House chamber so that everyone would know that there are consequences for being “the evilest person on the planet.”

Angela Chuang, one of his lawyers, said in his closing argument that DePape was estranged from his family and involved in conspiracy theories.

Chuang said during the sentencing that DePape was first exposed to extreme beliefs by Gypsy Taub, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his children. Taub and her two children attended every hearing in the federal case.

Taub, a well-known nudity activist in the San Francisco Bay Area, met DePape in Hawaii when he was 20 and she was in her 30s and pregnant, DePape’s twin sister, Joanne Robinson, said in a letter to the judge asking for leniency.

Robinson wrote that Taub isolated DePape from his family and caused her brother “extreme psychological harm.”