A federal jury found David DePape guilty of breaking into former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home in 2022 and launching a brutal hammer attack on her husband Paul.
DePape, 43, could face life in 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.
Within a week [started Thursday] In the hearing, DePape took the stand and said he initially sought out Pelosi’s wife, Nancy, so he could talk to her about Russian involvement in the 2016 election.
Federal prosecutors, however, said DePape broke into the home at about 2 a.m. to “break in [Nancy’s] kneecaps,” but instead found Paul Pelosi sleeping in the couple’s bedroom because the former Speaker of the House was in Washington DC at the time.
A jury on Thursday found DePape guilty of attempting to kidnap a federal official and assaulting a federal official’s immediate family member in retaliation for the performance of their duties.
The jury also found true the allegation that DePape used a dangerous weapon during the attack.
DePape did not deny the attack and tearfully apologized to Pelosi when she took the stand on November 14.
Image from San Francisco Police Department body-worn camera video of DePape holding the hammer, which was allegedly used to attack 83-year-old Paul Pelosi inside his home in San Francisco on October 28, 2022. California Superior Court Police body camera footage shows the moment Paul Pelosi was brutally attacked in front of two policemen by David DePape, pictured wearing New Balance shoes. A shoeless Pelosi was seen on the ground shortly after she was hit in the head with a hammer. California Superior Court Judge 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’m responding because my plan is basically ruined,” adding that he wants to ask President Joe Biden to pardon his target “so we can move forward as a country.”
DePape appeared visibly upset as the verdict was read, her hands clasped in front of her, a source in the courtroom told The Post.
“His eyes started blinking and his lawyer put his hand on him and they talked for a while,” the source said.
DePape is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on December 13.
DePape’s defense attorney, Jodi Linker, told jurors her client’s decision to break into Pelosi’s home had nothing to do with Nancy Pelosi’s highest position in Congress at the time. Instead, he insists it’s part of a larger plan to attack a list of people on grounds based on baseless right-wing conspiracies he’s read.
DePape’s other “targets” include actor Tom Hanks, [Calif. rep] Adam Schiff, California’s Gavin Newsom, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter and billionaire George Soros.
However, one of DePape’s main targets was Bay Area scholar Dr. Gayle Rubin, a leading academic in feminist theory and queer studies.
Paul Pelosi leaves Federal Court after testifying in the federal case against David DePape in San Francisco, California on Monday, Nov. 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 the US Courthouse after testifying in David DePape’s federal trial in San Francisco, on November 13, 2023. AP
DePape testified that he believed Rubin “wanted to turn the school into a pedophile molestation factory.” The educator took the stand during the hearing and said his teachings on gender and the gay movement were often misinterpreted.
DePape often writes about QAnon and the baseless theory that former President Donald Trump is at war with a group of Satan-worshiping Democratic elites who run a global pedophile sex ring.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, arrive at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors State Department Dinner on Dec. 7, 2019 at the Washington DCAP
Prosecutors said DePape was unable to carry out his plan to injure his other target because Paul Pelosi managed to call 911 and told the dispatcher, “This guy just came into the house and wanted to wait here until my wife came home and, anyway, he told me to put the phone down .”
Pelosi also testified during the trial and recounted the terrifying moment she saw DePape in her 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 realized that I was in serious danger.”
Gypsy Taub, a prominent Bay Area pro-nudity activist who has been in a relationship with DePape for 15 years, told The Post she was disappointed the jury didn’t see “many holes” in the prosecution’s case.
Taub pointed to discrepancies between time stamps on police body-worn camera footage that indicated officers arrived at the home around 9:30 p.m.
However, prosecutors said police arrived at Pelosi’s door around 2:30 a.m
Taub said she feared DePape was being tortured in prison, and that she and her children with DePape were kept from visiting him.
“There was enough evidence presented in court to question the officer’s story,” Taub said. “I am not surprised at all if the jury was threatened by the person who created this cover up because what was covered up was really big.
“The jurors might as well have voted guilty out of fear because I don’t understand how they could believe that.”
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
