A federal jury convicted David DePape on assault and kidnapping charges on Thursday, more than a year after he broke into then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer.
After seven hours of jury deliberation spread across two days, the panel found DePape guilty of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official.
The 43-year-old faces life in federal prison over the October 28, 2022 attack, which left 83-year-old Paul Pelosi with a fractured skull.
Pelosi spokesman Aaron Bennett said the family is “very grateful for the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes for Mr. Pelosi from so many across the country during this difficult time.”
“The Pelosi family is very proud of their Pop, who demonstrated extraordinary composure and courage on the night of the attack a year ago and in the courtroom last week,” he added. “Thankfully, Mr. Pelosi continues to make progress in his recovery.”
https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1725234016108900573
He still faces state charges in connection with the incident, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary, false imprisonment and threatening the life or serious bodily harm to a public official.
Audio and video footage of the attack shows police arriving at the Pelosi home to see both DePape and Pelosi both holding onto opposite ends of a hammer.
When the police ask what is going on, DePape responds: “Everything is good.”
Police tell the men to “drop the hammer.” DePape says “no” and grabs control of the hammer from Pelosi, savagely attacking him. Officers then storm forward and tackle the attacker.
DePape admitted to attacking Pelosi in court this week. He cried on the stand and said he did not intend to hurt Pelosi and said he felt remorse after the attack.
However, in January, DePape called in to a California news station to “apologize” for not going far enough with his attack.
He said during the call that he attacked Pelosi because “liberty isn’t dying, it’s being killed systematically and deliberately.”
The “people killing it have names and addresses, so I got their names and addresses so I could pay them a little visit . . . have a heart to heart chat about their bad behavior,” DePape said.
“I want to apologize to everyone. I messed up. What I did was really bad. I’m so sorry I didn’t get more of them. It’s my own fault. No one else is to blame. I should have come better prepared,” he added.
Attorneys for DePape argued he never intended to kidnap anyone and that the attack was not related to Pelosi’s work in the U.S. House. The defense claimed DePape only wanted the Pelosis to help him reach his true target, University of Michigan professor Gayle Rubin, whose work focuses on feminist theory and queer studies.