Judge dismisses attempted murder charge in attack on Paul Pelosi

A judge in San Francisco on Thursday dismissed some of the state’s most serious charges against the man who broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home in 2022 and bludgeoned her husband to death with a hammer.

Judge Harry M. Dorfman of the San Francisco County Superior Court granted a request by the defense to drop charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse, a court spokeswoman said. Defendant David DePape faces five other charges, including false imprisonment, aggravated burglary and aggravated kidnapping.

Mr. DePape was found guilty in November in a separate federal trial of two crimes: attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on an immediate family member of a federal official. He was sentenced last month to 30 years in a federal prison.

Defense attorneys for Mr. DePape in the state trial, which began last week, argued that re-prosecuting him at the state level would amount to double jeopardy. Mr. DePape, they said, had already been convicted of the same crimes for which he is now on trial.

After Judge Dorfman dismissed some of the charges, both the prosecution and defense requested a break in the proceedings so that an appeals court could make its decision. The trial is scheduled to resume on June 14, and Mr. DePape could face life in prison on the remaining charges.

The attack on Pelosi’s San Francisco home occurred in the early hours of October 28, 2022, raising fears of politically motivated violence just before the midterm elections.

Mr. DePape, then 42, broke into the house through a back door to hunt down Ms. Pelosi, who was then speaker of the House. Once at the house in the Pacific Heights neighborhood, Mr. DePape repeatedly shouted, “Where’s Nancy?” Ms. Pelosi was in Washington, and instead Mr. DePape encountered Paul Pelosi, who was sleeping in the couple’s bedroom.

In federal proceedings last year, Pelosi, who was 82 at the time of the attack, recounted how he managed to secretly call 911 from his bathroom. When police officers arrived, they found Pelosi and DePape standing in the foyer, both with one hand on a large gavel that DePape had brought with him.

At that moment, according to testimony at the trial and police body camera footage, DePape managed to grab the gavel and hit Pelosi on the head, leaving him bleeding on the ground. Pelosi had to undergo surgery for two skull fractures and spent six days in the hospital.

Lawyers for Mr. DePape in the state case declined to comment on Thursday. The San Francisco district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the case, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Susan C. Beachy made a research contribution.