Verdict reached in trial against alleged Pelosi hammer attacker David DePape

A verdict has been reached in the trial against David DePape, who allegedly broke into the San Francisco home of former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2022 and launched a brutal hammer attack on her husband Paul.

DePape, 43, would face a life sentence in federal prison if convicted of the Oct. 28, 2022 home invasion attack that left 83-year-old Paul Pelosi with a fractured skull and other serious injuries.

During the week-long [started Thursday] trial, DePape took the stand and said he was initially looking for Pelosi’s wife, Nancy, so he could speak to her about Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.

Federal prosecutors, however, said DePape broke into the home at about 2 a.m. to “break [Nancy’s] knee caps,” but instead found a sleeping Paul Pelosi in the couple’s bedroom because the former House Speaker was in Washington DC at the time.

Jurors were deliberating whether DePape was guilty of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official in retaliation for the performance of their duties.

DePape did not deny the attack and tearfully apologized to Pelosi when he took the stand on Nov. 14.

An image from a San Francisco Police Department body-worn camera video captured DePape holding a hammer, which he allegedly used to attack 83-year old Paul Pelosi inside his home in San Francisco on October 28, 2022. Superior Court of California
Police body camera footage shows the moment Paul Pelosi was viciously attacked in front of two cops by David DePape, pictured wearing New Balance shoes. A shoeless Pelosi is seen on the ground shortly after he was struck on the head with a hammer. Superior Court of California
David DePape is shown in Berkeley, Calif., on Dec. 13, 2013. AP

“He was never my target and I’m sorry he got hurt,” DePape, 43, told jurors. “I reacted because my plan was basically ruined,” adding he wanted to ask President Joe Biden to pardon his targets “so we can move forward as a country.”

DePape’s defense attorney, Jodi Linker, told jurors her client’s decision to break into the Pelosi home had nothing to do with Nancy Pelosi’s top position in Congress at the time. Instead, she insisted it was part of a larger plan to attack a list of people for reasons based on baseless right-wing conspiracies he had read.

DePape’s other “targets” included included actor Tom Hanks, [Calif. rep] Adam Schiff, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter and billionaire George Soros.

One of DePape’s main targets, however, was Bay Area scholar Dr. Gayle Rubin, a leading academic in feminist theory and queer studies.

Paul Pelosi leaves the Federal Courthouse after testifying in the federal case against David DePape in San Francisco, California on Monday, November 13, 2023. David G. McIntyre
Christine Pelosi waves to her father, Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as he leaves the Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse after testifying in the federal trial of David DePape in San Francisco, on Nov. 13, 2023. AP

DePape testified he believed Rubin “wanted to turn schools into pedophile molestation factories.” The educator took the stand during the trial and said her teachings on gender and the gay movement were often misconstrued.

DePape often wrote about QAnon and unfounded theories that former President Donald Trump was at war with a cabal of Satan-worshiping Democrat elites who run a global pedophile sex ring.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, arrive at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors State Department Dinner on Dec. 7, 2019 in Washington DCAP

Prosecutors said DePape was unable to carry out his plans to harm his other targets because Paul Pelosi managed to call 911 and told a dispatcher, “This gentleman just came into the house and wants to wait here until my wife comes home and, anyway, he’s telling me to put the phone down.”

Pelosi also testified during the trial and recounted the terrifying moment he saw DePape in his bedroom.

“The door opened and a very large man came in with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other and he said, ‘Where’s Nancy? And I think that woke me up,” Paul Pelosi testified. 

He added, “I recognized I was in serious danger.” 

With Post wires