Man who attacked Pelosi's husband with hammer gets 30 years in prison
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[May 18, 2024]
By Joseph Ax
(Reuters) -The man who broke into former U.S. House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi's home in 2022 and assaulted her husband with a hammer was
sentenced on Friday to 30 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
In a politically motivated attack, David DePape forcibly entered
Pelosi's home in San Francisco early in the morning on Oct. 28, 2022,
just a week before that year's congressional elections. At the time,
Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, was in Washington.
DePape, who according to prosecutors was driven by the far-right
conspiracy theories known as QAnon, acknowledged in trial testimony that
his intention was to take Pelosi hostage.
DePape, 44, confronted Pelosi's husband, Paul, and clubbed him over the
head with a hammer before police who had been called to the scene were
able to subdue the attacker. A jury found DePape guilty in November of
attempting to kidnap a federal officer and assaulting an immediate
family member of a federal officer.
Paul Pelosi, 82, suffered skull fractures and other injuries that have
continued to affect him, as he described in a letter to the judge ahead
of Friday's sentencing. In addition to dizziness and a metal plate that
remains in his head, Pelosi said he struggles with balance and has
permanent nerve damage in his left hand.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/May/18/images/ads/current/qualityinn_sda_PROMGRAD_2024.png)
In a separate letter, Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who was the first woman
to be elected House speaker, urged the judge to impose a "very long"
punishment.
She noted that DePape reportedly shouted "Where's Nancy?" upon breaking
into her home, echoing what some intruders yelled inside the U.S.
Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of then-President Donald Trump's
supporters stormed the building seeking to overturn President Joe
Biden's election.
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![](../images/obits/news_m32.jpg)
Courtroom deputy Ada Means reads the guilty verdict to convict David
Wayne DePape of a hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of
former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a federal court in San
Francisco, California, U.S., November 16, 2023, in this courtroom
sketch. REUTERS/Vicki Behringer/ File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/May/18/images/ads/current/graue_lda_BUICKENCORE4176_051324.jpg)
Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in
San Francisco federal court to sentence DePape, a Canadian national
living illegally in the U.S., to 40 years in prison.
In court papers, the Justice Department argued that while he was not
convicted of a terrorism crime, his offenses nevertheless met the
definition because he was aiming to affect the government through
"intimidation or coercion." Prosecutors also said DePape had not
shown remorse for his actions.
DePape's court-appointed defense lawyer had asked for a sentence of
14 years, saying he had become unmoored in the years leading up to
the attack due in part to an abusive relationship.
DePape still faces separate state charges stemming from the Pelosi
break-in and attack, including attempted murder, that carry a
potential sentence of 13 years to life in prison. He has pleaded not
guilty.
In a statement following Friday's sentencing, a spokesperson for
Pelosi said, "The Pelosi family couldn't be prouder of their Pop and
his tremendous courage in saving his own life on the night of the
attack and in testifying in this case," referring to Paul Pelosi's
family nickname.
(Reporting by Joseph AxEditing by Alistair Bell and Bill Berkrot)
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