A man who attacked former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s elderly husband with a hammer was sentenced to life in prison without parole in a California state court on Tuesday, the district attorney general’s office said.
David DePape, who broke into the couple’s San Francisco home and wounded Paul Pelosi in a terrifying attack captured on police bodycam, was already serving a 30-year federal sentence for the incident.
A San Francisco judge sentenced DePape, 44, to life in prison without the possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping and other charges, the San Francisco District Attorney General’s office said in a statement.
At the time of the October 2022 attack, Democrat Nancy Pelosi was second in the running for president and a regular target of bizarre far-right conspiracy theories.
Depapp – a Canadian former nudist activist who supported himself by doing occasional carpentry work – had initially planned to target Nancy Pelosi. But instead she encountered her then 82-year-old husband.
During what DePep described to authorities as a “very cordial” conversation with Paul Pelosi, the husband managed to ask for help from law enforcement officials.
When police arrived moments later, DePape attacked Pelosi with a hammer, before officers ran over him and took the weapon away.
Pelosi was knocked unconscious and her skull was fractured. He spent about a week in the hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Nancy Pelosi was not at home on the night of the attack.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, moments before his sentencing on Tuesday, DePape gave an incendiary, tearful statement about the 9/11 attacks and conspiracy theories including “evil magical murder rituals.”
He did not apologize to the Pelosi family, the newspaper said.
Depep’s lawyers had previously said they intended to appeal.
“He will now face justice for the violence he committed as a result of the extremely dangerous and divisive partisan rhetoric he unleashed online and in person,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in the statement.
“Although some politicians made light of this incident and mocked it to score political points, this was a horrific attack on one of our leaders, a family and our democracy. We must all stand up for justice and the rule of law. Must play one’s part.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
