The hammer-wielding man who brutally attacked Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in their San Francisco home was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced.
U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley came close to siding with the U.S. Probation Office, which recommended a 25-year punishment against David DePape.
Government prosecutors had sought the maximum term of 40 years.
In a statement on Friday, the Pelosi family said they were proud of Paul Pelosi, or “Pop,” and grateful to those who wished him well since the attack.
“The Pelosi family couldn’t be prouder of their Pop and his tremendous courage in saving his own life on the night of the attack and in testifying in this case,” the statement, shared by spokesperson Aaron Bennet, read. “Speaker Pelosi and her family are immensely grateful to all who have sent love and prayers over the last eighteen months, as Mr. Pelosi continues his recovery.”
Federal jurors on Nov. 16 found DePape guilty of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official stemming from the Oct 28, 2022, assault.
DePape testified in his own defense and admitted to breaking into the couple’s Pacific Heights home with plans to use Nancy and Paul Pelosi in a plot to lure Bay Area scholar and University of Michigan professor Gayle Rubin, a leading academic in feminist theory and queer studies.
While on the stand, DePape referred to multiple right-wing conspiracy theories and said he spent six hours a day looking at political commentary on YouTube leading up to the attack.
DePape had previously told investigators that he broke into the home with plans to break Speaker Pelosi’s kneecaps if she didn’t answer his questions truthfully.
While on the witness stand, DePape sought to backtrack from that alleged admission. When asked if he had planned to kidnap the lawmaker, DePape told jurors, “I believe that’s a mischaracterization.”
During the break-in, when DePape wasn’t looking, Paul Pelosi managed to call 911 and police.
When officers arrived, DePape and Pelosi both had hands on the suspect’s hammer, police body-camera footage showed.
An officer ordered him to “drop the hammer” before DePape pulled it away from Pelosi and attacked him with it. He was quickly tackled and arrested by officers.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Ismail J. Ramsey said that Friday’s sentencing reflects DePape’s “lack of remorse and contrition for violently assaulting” Pelosi.
“The court’s sentence will ensure that DePape will not be able to use violence to pollute the political process,” he said in a statement read outside the San Francisco courthouse. “Robust, passionate, political debate is appropriate and often necessary in our democracy, but today’s sentence is a stern reminder that political discourse must never transform into violence.”
DePape still faces state charges that include attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary, false imprisonment and threatening the life of or serious bodily harm to a public official.
Jury selection in the state case being pressed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office is set for Wednesday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Sahil Kapur and Julia Lee contributed.