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The man accused of bludgeoning the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been convicted of federal attempted kidnapping and assault charges.
A California jury found David DePape, 43, guilty of two charges: attempting to kidnap a federal official and assaulting an immediate family member of a federal official with intent to retaliate against the official for performance of their duties. DePape violently attacked Paul Pelosi, then 82, with a hammer at the couple’s San Francisco home in October 2022.
Jurors returned the verdict after about a week of trial and a day of deliberations.
Body-worn camera footage appears to show David DePape and Paul Pelosi seconds before DePape attacks Pelosi with a hammer. (via Law&Crime Network)
On Oct. 28, 2022, DePape used the hammer to shatter glass at the Pelosi residence as Paul Pelosi slept, according to prosecutors. Pelosi was violently assaulted, while DePape is said to have repeatedly shouted, “Where’s Nancy?! Where’s Nancy?!”
Law enforcement arrived to find the suspect and the victim struggling over control of the hammer, body-worn camera footage shows. A police officer tells him to drop the hammer, but DePape says he will not. After winning the struggle for the tool, he can be seen striking Paul Pelosi in the head before he was tackled by officers and arrested.
DePape also reportedly had zip ties at the time of the break-in, which occurred when Nancy Pelosi was traveling.
Paul Pelosi suffered a skull fracture and other injuries from the attack.
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As Law&Crime previously reported, DePape claimed to believe several bizarre conspiracy theories that led him to the Pelosi home that night. Those ideas included his belief in a cabal of elites — among its ranks a disparate group including Tom Hanks, George Soros, and Gov. Gavin Newsom — working to sow ruin into the fabric of American society. But, defense attorney Jodi Linker argued that chief among these fanciful notions was her client’s intent to use the former House speaker as bait for his real target — a college professor and so-called “pedo activist.”
Federal prosecutors argued otherwise.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Vartain Horn began the state’s case by dramatically holding up the hammer — in a Ziplock bag, according to a courtroom report by NBC News correspondent Dana Griffin. What DePape aimed to do, the prosecutor argued, was teach Nancy Pelosi “a lesson.”
“[The] defendant considered Nancy Pelosi evil,” Horn said. “He planned to kidnap her, to hold her hostage, to break her kneecaps.”
Indeed, DePape had previously admitted that he would have broken the then-House Speaker’s kneecaps if he thought she was lying to him.
DePape faces a potential life sentence. State charges against him are still pending.
Law&Crime’s Colin Kalmabacher contributed to this report.
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