David DePape: Man serving 30 years in prison for attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole in California

SAN FRANCISCO — A man sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for attacking former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer in their California home was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a separate state trial.

In June, a San Francisco jury found David DePape guilty of charges including aggravated kidnapping, first-degree burglary and false imprisonment of an elderly person.

Before handing down the ruling, Judge Harry Dorfman rejected arguments by DePape’s lawyers that he was granted a new trial in connection with the 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time.

“It is my intention that Mr. DePape will never leave prison and will never be eligible for parole,” Dorfman said in imposing the sentence.

One of the defense attorneys, Adam Lipson, asked Dorfman before sentencing to take into account DePape’s mental health and isolation, which made him vulnerable to online propaganda.

“He is a man who, until his activation, has always been a calm and law-abiding person,” Lipson said.

Given a chance to address the court before sentencing, DePape, dressed in prison orange and with brown hair in a ponytail, detailed how 9/11 was an inside job, with his ex-wife replaced by a body double and his government-provided lawyers conspiring against him.

“I am a clairvoyant,” DePape told the court, reading from sheets of paper. “The more I meditate, the more psychic I become.”

In a letter read in court by the victim’s daughter, Christine Pelosi, Paul Pelosi sought the maximum sentence, claiming his “last peaceful sleep” that ended abruptly “when the defendant brutally broke into my home, forced his way into my bedroom and stood over to my bed with a hammer and zip ties, demanding to see my wife and shouting, “Where’s Nancy?”

He said the attack left him with bumps on his head, a metal plate inside, dizziness and nerve damage in his left hand. He said sleeping alone at home brings back memories of the attack.

A federal jury previously convicted DePape of assaulting a family member of a federal official and attempting to kidnap a federal official. In May, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison during an unusual show of contempt hearing that was the result of a mistrial. The penalty in the state trial will be cumulative with the federal sentence.

DePape’s attorneys said the state trial is doubly jeopardized because of his federal conviction. They argued that while the criminal charges were not exactly the same, the two cases stemmed from the same act. The judge dismissed some of the state charges but left in place others that were not involved in the federal case.

The attack on Paul Pelosi on October 28, 2022 was captured on police body camera video just days before the midterm elections and shocked the political world. He suffered head injuries, including a skull fracture, which were sewn together with plates and screws. His right arm and hand were also injured.

DePape admitted during his federal trial that he planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage, record her hearing and “break her kneecaps” if she did not come clean about the lies he told about “Russiagate,” a reference to the investigation into Russia’s campaign interference presidential election in 2016.