The conviction could land Pelosi’s attacker in jail for decades.
A jury has convicted the man charged with breaking into the home of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and striking her 83-year-old husband in the head with a hammer in an act of political violence fueled by hard-right delusions.
David DePape, a Canadian citizen who was living in the San Francisco Bay Area at the time of the attack, was found guilty by a jury in federal court Thursday of assault and kidnapping charges that could send him to prison for decades.
Jurors convicted DePape after deliberating about six hours in a trial that began Nov. 9 in downtown San Francisco, about two miles from the Pelosi home where the attack occurred in October 2022.
“Speaker Pelosi and her family are deeply grateful for the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes for Mr. Pelosi from so many across the country during this difficult time,” Rep. Pelosi said in a statement after the verdict. “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 this week.”
DePape admitted — to investigators, in a jailhouse interview and in rambling court testimony — to breaking into the home and striking Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer as part of a convoluted plot to detain and interrogate the former House speaker as leverage against other prominent figures he believed were engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy and corruption.
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DePape was charged with attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official and assault on an immediate family member of a U.S. official. Both counts required under federal law that the defendant had the intent against the official over their duties — a notion that the defense challenged.
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The kidnapping charge carries a 20-year prison sentence and the assault has a 30-year term.
DePape also faces state charges for the attack, including attempted murder, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse.
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The man who broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home and attacked her husband with a hammer was found guilty of assault and kidnapping charges. https://t.co/qFbi24i4EO
— POLITICO (@politico) November 16, 2023
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