Former suspect in hammer attack on Paul Pelosi dismissed from court for ‘interference’ in toilet graffiti

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A nudist activist whose former partner is accused of attacking former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer has been ejected from court after allegedly attempting to tamper with the jury in his trial.

Gypsy Taub, the former partner of defendant David DePape, was denied access to the public gallery and the second floor of the San Francisco courthouse where DePape’s trial was winding down, the Associated Press reported.

DePape, 44, was sentenced to 30 years in prison last month after being found guilty of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on a close family member of a federal official.

Prosecutors found that DePape attacked Pelosi’s then-82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, with the hammer after breaking into their San Francisco home in October 2022.

Following his conviction in the federal case, DePape now faces a state court trial for the burglary.

Taub was disqualified from the trial after the judge alleged that Taub tried to influence the jury. On Monday and Tuesday, Taub, a well-known nudist activist in the Bay Area, reportedly handed out pieces of paper with a website address on them.

This website, run by Taub, spreads conspiracy theories. The same website address was also discovered as graffiti in a women’s restroom near the courtroom on Tuesday.

ABC7 reported that the website contained false conspiracy theories about the trial.

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

The judge barred them from the courtroom before DePape’s attorney, Adam Lipson, made his closing argument to the jury.

He claimed that DePape had led a lonely life and descended “down the rabbit hole of propaganda and conspiracy theories” when he broke into the Pelosi’s house less than two years ago.

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

Lipson argues that while his client is guilty on three counts, prosecutors did not present enough evidence to convict him of threatening a family member of a public official or aggravated kidnapping.

The attorney argued against the kidnapping charge, telling the jury that prosecutors could not prove that DePape kidnapped Paul Pelosi with the intent to “extort money or anything of value from another person,” AP reported.

Prosecutors have said DePape intended the alleged kidnapping to produce a video of Nancy Pelosi confessing to crimes he believed she had committed. But Lipson argued the video does not exist, and even if it did exist, it would be worthless.

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

However, Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Maffei contradicted that, saying DePape actually told a detective that he planned to obtain a video of Nancy Pelosi confessing to a crime and post it online, according to the news agency.

“A video of the Speaker of the House confessing to crimes in her own home has inherent value,” Maffei countered.

DePape eventually testified at the federal trial that he decided to attack Nancy Pelosi to get her to admit to alleged lies and corruption. He told the jury his plan was not to kidnap her but to interrogate her on camera while wearing a unicorn costume.

He also admitted that he broke into the Pelosi’s San Francisco home around 2 a.m. on October 28, 2022, and that he planned to take the then-Speaker hostage and “break her kneecaps” if she lied to him. He also admitted to hitting Paul Pelosi with a hammer after police showed up at the home. He said his plan to put an end to what he sees as rampant corruption is failing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report