A state jury has found David DePape guilty on all charges related to his home invasion and hammer attack on former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, CBS News reported.
DePape was found guilty of the five counts he faced in the stand trial, including aggravated kidnapping resulting in bodily harm or death, false imprisonment of an elder or dependent adult, threatening the family of public officials, first-degree residential burglary, and preventing or dissuading a witness by force or threat.
According to court officials, the jury reached a unanimous decision on all five counts. The jury started its deliberations in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon.
Court officials announced that the verdict had been reached on Friday afternoon and would be announced shortly after 4 pm (local time). There was no court on Wednesday due to the Juneteenth holiday.
In his closing arguments, San Francisco Public Defender Adam Lipson said DePape had been living a solitary life and had gone “down the rabbit hole of propaganda and conspiracy theories” when he broke into Nancy Pelosi’s residence on October 28, 2022, CBS News reported.
Nancy Pelosi’s spokesperson, Aaron Bennett, stated on behalf of the Pelosi family. Bennett said, “Speaker Pelosi and her family remain in awe of their Pop’s bravery, which shone through again on the witness stand in this trial just as it did when he saved his own life on the night of the attack.”
“For nearly 20 gruelling months, Mr Pelosi has demonstrated extraordinary courage and fortitude every day of his recovery. The Pelosi family is grateful for the kind thoughts and prayers they continue to receive. Speaker Pelosi and her family will refrain from further substantive comment until sentencing is complete,” he added.
David DePape was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in May after a jury in November 2023 found him guilty of trying to hold then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi hostage and assaulting her husband at their residence in San Francisco, CBS News reported.
The attack on Paul Pelosi was captured on police bodycam video after officers responded to his 911 call and found him struggling with DePape, who then bludgeoned Pelosi with a hammer.
The incident happened just before the 2022 midterm elections, sending shockwaves through the political world, and was attributed to the predictable impacts of rising demonizing political rhetoric.
The opening statements in the state trial started in May, a day after DePape’s federal sentencing was reopened to permit him to speak after a procedural error during his original sentencing, CBS News reported.
Earlier this month, the judge in the state trial permitted a defence motion to dismiss three counts in the case against DePape, which included attempted murder, assault of an elder, and assault with a deadly weapon — based on the public defender’s argument that the counts fell under double jeopardy.
