San Francisco:
A California court on Tuesday sentenced a man to life in prison without parole for attacking former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s elderly husband with a hammer, the district attorney general’s office announced.
David DePaap, who broke into the couple’s San Francisco home and beat Paul Pelosi in a horrifying assault that was captured on police body camera, was already serving a 30-year federal prison sentence for the incident.
A San Francisco judge sentenced DePaap, 44, to “life in prison without the possibility of parole for aggravated kidnapping and other charges,” the San Francisco District Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.
At the time of the October 2022 assault, Democrat Nancy Pelosi was the second in line for president-elect and the target of outrageous far-right conspiracy theories.
Mr. DePape, a former Canadian nudist activist who made a living doing occasional carpentry, initially planned to target Nancy Pelosi. But instead he met her then 82-year-old husband.
DePape told officers she had a “fairly friendly” conversation with Paul Pelosi, and her husband was able to seek help from law enforcement officers.
When police arrived a short time later, Ms. DePape struck Ms. Pelosi with a hammer, and officers rushed in and took away her weapon.
Pelosi lost consciousness and suffered a fractured skull. He spent almost a week in the hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Nancy Pelosi was not home the night of the attack.
Just before Tuesday’s sentencing, DePaap released a rambling, tearful statement about the 9/11 attacks and conspiracy theories, including “murder rituals involving evil magic,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The newspaper said he did not apologize to the Pelosi family.
Depape’s lawyer previously said he intended to appeal.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement that he “will now be tried for the violence he has caused as a result of heated, dangerous and divisive partisan rhetoric spewed online and in person.” ” he said.
“While some politicians downplayed this incident and joked about it to score political points, this was a horrific attack on one of our leaders, our family, and our democracy. We all must do our part to uphold justice and the rule of law.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
