The person who broke into the San Francisco house of Nancy Pelosi two years in the past and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer was sentenced on Friday to 30 years in federal jail, with credit score for time already served.
Ms. Pelosi was the speaker of the Home and second in line to the presidency on the time of the assault, which raised fears of politically motivated violence within the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections.
The assailant, David DePape, was convicted in November 2023 on federal prices. He admitted on the witness stand throughout the trial that he had carried out the assault, as he had achieved earlier than in interviews with the police and media retailers. However he stated that he by no means supposed to harm Ms. Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi.
Mr. DePape stated his intrusion into the couple’s house within the prosperous Pacific Heights neighborhood was a part of a plot to kidnap Ms. Pelosi and interrogate her a few supposed corrupt conspiracy led by Ms. Pelosi and different outstanding liberal figures.
He was convicted of two federal crimes: tried kidnapping of a federal officer and assault on a right away member of the family of a federal official.
Prosecutors requested the court docket to impose the statutory most sentences for every offense — 20 years for the kidnapping cost and 30 years for the assault cost. The court docket did so, but it surely denied the prosecutors’ request that ten years of these sentences be served consecutively, that means Mr. DePape would have been imprisoned for a complete of 40 years. As a substitute, the choose, Jacqueline Scott Corley, stated the sentences would run concurrently.
The federal public defenders representing Mr. DePape had requested for a complete sentence of 14 years.
Choose Corley stated in court docket that she had taken into consideration Mr. DePape’s lack of a earlier prison report and his vulnerability to conspiracy theories. However she stated the violence he dedicated was “fully gratuitous,” and he or she expressed concern that his violent invasion of a sitting lawmaker’s house, which she referred to as unprecedented, would possibly frighten individuals away from serving in public workplace.
Mr. DePape additionally faces separate state prices stemming from the assault, together with tried homicide, assault with a lethal weapon and elder abuse. Jury choice for his state trial is scheduled to start on Could 22.
Earlier than the sentence was introduced, Christine Pelosi, a daughter of Nancy and Paul Pelosi, learn statements to the court docket from her mother and father in regards to the impression of the assault. Mr. Pelosi’s assertion described the persistent bodily results of his accidents, the emotional trauma of the assault and the persevering with threats to the couple, and stated that his life “has been irrevocably modified.”
Nancy Pelosi’s assertion famous that “our house stays a heartbreaking crime scene,” and Mr. Pelosi stated that they had not but been capable of absolutely take away the stains of his blood from the ground.
The defendant didn’t communicate on the listening to.
Mr. DePape displays the underbelly of American politics: a person pushed by on-line conspiracy theories who appeared to embrace the rhetoric of many right-wing figures, who’ve used dehumanizing language for years to explain Ms. Pelosi and name her an enemy of the USA.
His legal professionals mounted a slender protection within the federal trial, arguing that Mr. DePape had focused Ms. Pelosi not as a result of she was a United States authorities official — a required ingredient of the federal prices — however as a result of he noticed her as a part of an elite Democratic cabal that was bent on destroying American freedom. Mr. DePape had a listing of different targets who weren’t federal officers, together with Hunter Biden, the president’s son; the actor Tom Hanks; George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist; and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.
A Canadian citizen who moved to San Francisco in his 20s, Mr. DePape was a solitary determine who labored odd jobs and lived for a time beneath a tree in a park in Berkeley, Calif. At instances he appeared immersed within the liberal counterculture scene of the Bay Space, experimenting with psychedelics and protesting in opposition to the battle in Iraq.
His accomplice throughout that point was a domestically identified activist named Oxane Taub, with whom Mr. DePape had two youngsters. Ms. Taub, often known as Gypsy, served time in jail for the tried abduction of a 14-year-old boy, amongst different crimes.
After their relationship dissolved, he grew to become estranged from his youngsters and fell deeper into isolation, immersing himself in conspiracy theories like Pizzagate and QAnon and turning into a supporter of Donald J. Trump.
Mr. DePape’s legal professionals informed the court docket that he had taken duty for his actions and that he had been manipulated each by Ms. Taub, who was typically within the courtroom throughout the trial, and by the web world of conspiracy theories.
“His whole grownup life was indelibly formed and distorted by an abusive long-term relationship who exploited his innate vulnerabilities and immersed him in a world of maximum beliefs the place actuality will not be actuality,” the legal professionals wrote of their memorandum requesting a lenient sentence. “He was additional radicalized by his obsessive consumption of media amplifying excessive beliefs.”
Ms. Taub, who attended the sentencing on Friday, stated she had typically been abusive to companions prior to now, however by no means to Mr. DePape.
“It’s fascinating how they use that phrase ‘radicalize’ as an insult,” stated Ms. Taub, who described herself as a “skilled conspiracy theorist.”
Prosecutors, in contrast, urged the choose to impose a “terrorism enhancement” to his sentence, saying his “actions had been an assault themselves on democracy and our establishments.” “The defendant supposed to make an announcement,” they wrote. “He got here ready with the instruments he wanted to broadcast his hostage-taking to the world.”
In an announcement learn outdoors the courtroom by a spokesman after the listening to, Ismail Ramsey, the U.S. lawyer for the Northern District of California, stated that “right now’s sentence is a stern reminder that political discourse mustn’t ever rework into violence.”
Mr. DePape was 42 when he broke into the Pelosis’ home within the early hours of Oct. 28, 2022. Ms. Pelosi was in Washington on the time, however her husband, then 82, was asleep of their bed room.
Mr. DePape informed the police that he was on a mission to seize Ms. Pelosi, interrogate her and “break her kneecaps” if she lied to him. He stated he deliberate to put on a unicorn costume whereas questioning Ms. Pelosi, and to broadcast video of the interrogation on-line.
Bursting into the couple’s bed room, he stated repeatedly, “The place’s Nancy?”
On the trial, Mr. Pelosi defined how he was capable of surreptitiously name 911 from his lavatory. When the police arrived, Mr. Pelosi opened the door for them whereas he and Mr. DePape every had a hand on a big hammer that Mr. DePape had introduced with him.
At that second, Mr. DePape wrested the weapon free and struck Mr. Pelosi repeatedly within the head, knocking him to the ground in a pool of his personal blood. Mr. Pelosi suffered two cranium fractures and underwent surgical procedure, spending six days within the hospital.
