Juror deliberates in trial of man who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband with hammer

Gypsy Taub, who has two children with defendant David DePape, was also barred from entering the second floor of the San Francisco courthouse because, according to the judge, she attempted to influence the jury.

On Monday and Tuesday, Taub, a well-known Bay Area nudity activist, handed out notes outside the courtroom with the address of a conspiracy-theory website she runs. On Tuesday, graffiti with the website’s address was discovered in a women’s restroom near the courtroom.

“You attempted to corruptly influence one or more jurors,” San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman said sternly before asking two bailiffs to escort Taub from the courtroom.

The judge’s decision came before DePape’s attorney, San Francisco Public Defender Adam Lipson, delivered his closing argument to the jury, saying DePape led a lonely life and “descended down the rabbit hole of propaganda and conspiracy theories” when he broke into the Pelosi’s home on October 28, 2022.

DePape is charged with attempted tampering with a witness, false imprisonment, burglary, threatening a family member of a public official and aggravated kidnapping.

Lipson told the jury that DePape was guilty on three counts, but prosecutors had not presented evidence to convict him of threatening a family member of a public official and aggravated kidnapping.

“There is no major dispute about the facts of the case,” Lipson said. “But there is a tremendous dispute about which charges are true and which are not.”

DePape, 44, was found guilty in federal court last month of assaulting a family member of a federal official and attempting to kidnap a federal official. He was sentenced to 30 years in a federal prison. He will likely be deported to Canada after serving his sentence.

Lipson had argued earlier in the trial that the state case was double jeopardy following the federal conviction. Even though the charges were not exactly the same, the two cases were based on the same crime, he argued.

The judge agreed and dismissed the state’s charges of attempted murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. Another judge upheld the decision on appeal.

Lipson told the jury that prosecutors had not proven that DePape kidnapped Paul Pelosi, then 82, with the intent to “extort money or anything of value from another person.” In this case, DePape’s kidnapping was intended to create a video of Nancy Pelosi confessing to crimes he believed she had committed, prosecutors said.

Lipson argued that the video did not exist and even if it did exist, it had no value.

“When he broke into the Pelosi’s house, his intention was to confront and possibly injure and attack Nancy Pelosi. That was his intention at the time, this has nothing to do with Mr. Pelosi,” he said.

In her response, Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Maffei pointed out that DePape told a detective that he planned to obtain a video of Nancy Pelosi’s crime confessions and post it online.

“There is inherent value in a video of the Speaker of the House confessing to crimes in her own home,” Maffei said.

On Monday, Maffei told the jury that DePape had unleashed a “reign of terror” on Paul Pelosi and then beat him to death with a hammer as part of a plan hatched over months.

“The bare facts of this case are horrifying in and of themselves, even without embellishment,” Maffei said. “David DePape broke into the home of an 82-year-old man while he was sleeping, entered his bedroom, held him hostage with a hammer, threatened him, threatened his wife and attempted to kill him.”

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 was captured on police bodycam video just days before the 2022 midterm elections and shocked the political world. He suffered two head injuries, including a skull fracture that was repaired with plates and screws that he will have for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.