A man who used a hammer to strike former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s elderly husband was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Friday. David DePape was convicted last year for breaking into the couple’s San Francisco home and bludgeoning Paul Pelosi.
At the time of the October 2022 attack, Democrat Nancy Pelosi was second in line for the presidency and a frequent victim of bizarre far-right conspiracy theories.
David DePape had originally planned to target Nancy Pelosi
Jurors heard how DePape, a Canadian former nudist activist who supported himself with sporadic carpentry work, had originally planned to target Nancy Pelosi, threatening to crush her kneecaps if she did not admit to her party’s “lies.”
When DePape arrived at their home armed with rope, gloves, and duct tape, she was met by her then-82-year-old husband and kept asking, “Where’s Nancy?”
During what DePape described as a “pretty amicable” talk with Paul Pelosi, the husband called for assistance from law enforcement personnel.
However, moments later, in footage obtained by police bodycam, DePape struck Pelosi with a hammer before officers rushed in and took the weapon away.
Pelosi was knocked unconscious, and his skull fractured. He spent about a week in the hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Nancy Pelosi was not home on the night of the attack.
Prosecutors requested a federal judge in San Francisco to sentence DePape to 40 years in prison.
Nancy Pelosi had asked the judge to impose a “very long” sentence for an attack that “has had a devastating effect on three generations of our family.”
“Even now, eighteen months after the home invasion and assault, the signs of blood and break-in are impossible to avoid.
“Our home remains a heartbreaking crime scene,” she wrote, according to court documents cited by the San Francisco Chronicle.
On Friday her office said the family was proud of Paul Pelosi “and his tremendous courage in saving his own life on the night of the attack and in testifying in this case.”
He also admitted wishing to attack California Governor Gavin Newsom, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and actor Tom Hanks
DePape pleaded not guilty to the allegations. While he did not deny the attack, his defense focused on opposing federal prosecutors’ claims that he targeted Nancy Pelosi as a federal official, which was a significant aspect of their charges.
Instead, his lawyers claimed that DePape was motivated to target several important liberal people due to his exposure to a web of obscure conspiracy theories.
In social media posts, DePape spread QAnon theories and false allegations that the previous US elections were rigged.
The prosecution heard how DePape did not intend to stop his supposed anti-corruption crusade with Pelosi, and had compiled a list of other targets, including a feminist scholar whom he accused of turning US schools into “pedophile molestation factories.”
The defendant also admitted wishing to attack California Governor Gavin Newsom, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and actor Tom Hanks.
Jurors took less than 10 hours to reject DePape’s explanation of the attack, which occurred just days before the US midterm elections.