Man who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband is convicted in California trial
SAN FRANCISCO — David DePape was convicted Friday of five charges, brought by the state of California, for breaking into Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s home in 2022 and beating her husband with a hammer.
The verdict in the state trial concluded a case that had raised fears of politically motivated violence in a divided America and reflected some of the darkest currents in the country’s politics.
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In the years leading up to the attack, DePape was submerged in online conspiracy and the virulent rhetoric that right-wing figures had for years embraced against their opponents, including Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker.
The convictions by a state jury in a San Francisco courtroom followed DePape’s convictions in federal court last year that resulted in a 30-year sentence.
On Friday, he was found guilty of first-degree burglary; false imprisonment of an elder; threatening the family of a public official; kidnapping for ransom that resulted in bodily harm; and dissuading a witness by force or threat.
DePape, 44, now faces the possibility of a life sentence without parole in state prison, to be completed after he serves his federal term.
Over the two trials, he and his lawyers never contested the evidence against him.
In interviews with police shortly after the incident in October 2022, he admitted to breaking into Nancy Pelosi’s house and attacking her husband, Paul Pelosi.
His lawyer in the state case, Adam Lipson of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, told the jury in his closing statement Tuesday that the group should find DePape guilty of some of the charges.
But Lipson tried to convince jurors that the prosecution had not proved other charges, including that DePape was guilty of kidnapping Pelosi because he did not tie up his victim or attempt to extract a ransom.
Phoebe Maffei, an assistant district attorney in San Francisco, painted a far darker picture during closing arguments, arguing that DePape had engaged in months of elaborate research before attempting to kill Paul Pelosi in a “reign of terror.”
She said DePape had bashed Pelosi’s skull with a hammer and had damaged Pelosi’s left hand so severely that it cannot fully be used.
The Pelosi family, in a statement provided Friday by Nancy Pelosi’s office, said, “Speaker Pelosi and her family remain in awe of their Pop’s bravery, which shone through again on the witness stand in this trial just as it did when he saved his own life on the night of the attack.
For nearly 20 grueling months, Mr. Pelosi has demonstrated extraordinary courage and fortitude every day of his recovery.”
