Paul Pelosi hammer attacker gets life in prison without parole

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — David DePape, who was convicted of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and fracturing her husband’s skull with a hammer, was sentenced Tuesday in San Francisco state court to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

DePape broke into the home in October 2022 looking for Nancy Pelosi, whom he believed had lied and slandered former President Donald Trump.

Before he was sentenced DePape, sporting an orange prison jumpsuit and sitting next to his public defender Adam Lipson, pulled the microphone closer, stated “9/11 was an inside job,” and proceeded to list all of the ways he believed that the United States government orchestrated the terror attacks. He shared that he believed he was being followed by government agents because of his 9/11 activism.

DePape also said he possesses psychic abilities, and that his former wife was a body double replaced by government agents. He said the body double allowed his children to be molested and forced them to take drugs. DePape sometimes broke into tears during his statement.

Finally, DePape said that powerful forces in the government colluded to smear and impeach Trump when he was president, claimed that Paul Pelosi lied on the stand and slammed his defense lawyers’ strategies at his federal and state trials.

The defendant spoke for nearly an hour before Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman commanded him to stop.

“I did not hear any expression of remorse,” Dorfman said. “If you tried to persuade me of something in your remarks Mr. DePape, I’m not persuaded.”

The judge said DePape was intelligent and showed “careful planning” of the attack.

“I cannot ignore the clear motivations … he went after a leader of the country’s government,” Dorfman said. “Clearly he’d thought about it and had a plan. Mr. Pelosi is lucky to be alive; he easily could have died.”

Christine Pelosi, Paul and Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, read an impact statement from Paul Pelosi saying he was still suffering the effects of the hammer attack, including from dizziness and trouble moving. The night DePape broke into his home attempting to kidnap his wife, he said, was “the last peaceful sleep I had.”

Dual sentences

A 12-member California state jury convicted DePape in June on charges of false imprisonment, residential burglary, threatening a family member of a public official, attempting to sway a witness and aggravated kidnapping. The aggravated kidnapping charge carried a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The jury deliberated for nearly 12 hours before reaching its verdict after a three week trial.

DePape was sentencedto 30 years in prison for his crime in a separate federal trial, which was held in November 2023.

Tuesday’s sentencing by Dorfman followed brief arguments for a motion for a new trial filed by DePape’s defense team. Depape’s team argued that the government was vindictive when it added kidnapping charges just before the trial started and that a motion to continue should have been granted as a result.

“I don’t see vindictive prosecution in violation of the law,” Dorfman said, denying the motion.

DePape admitted to the attack on Paul Pelosi but pleaded not guilty. In his federal trial, DePape testified in his own defense and said he believed Nancy Pelosi was a part of a cabal of elites controlling the country, indoctrinating children and trampling on the rights of Americans.

During the trial, the prosecution showed the jury graphic police body camera footage of the attack on Paul Pelosi. Jurors visually recoiled at the sight of DePape hitting him in the head with the hammer

Paul Pelosi testified during the trial and said that he is still suffering negative effects from the attack nearly two years later. He said DePape awoke him the night of the attack by bursting through his bedroom door demanding to see Nancy Pelosi and saying he wanted to “take out” the congressional leader.

No witnesses for the defense were called during DePape’s state trial. His defense attorney said DePape was suffering from a schizoid personality disorder that left him unable to control his actions and emotions and left him prone to fantastical, delusional thinking.

Police investigators who testified during the trial contradicted DePape’s defense team’s assertion that DePape was mentally ill, testifying that DePape was lucid in the hours after the attack.

DePape originally faced attempted murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon charges; Dorfman dismissed those charges midtrial.