Intruder Who Bludgeoned Pelosi’s Husband Gets 30-Year Sentence
The man who broke into the San Francisco home of Nancy Pelosi two years ago and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer was sentenced on Friday to 30 years in federal prison, with credit for time already served.
Ms. Pelosi was the speaker of the House and second in line to the presidency at the time of the attack, which raised fears of politically motivated violence in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections.
The assailant, David DePape, was convicted in November 2023 on federal charges. He admitted on the witness stand during the trial that he had carried out the attack, as he had done before in interviews with the police and media outlets. But he said that he never intended to hurt Ms. Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi.
Mr. DePape said his intrusion into the couple’s home in the affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood was part of a plot to kidnap Ms. Pelosi and interrogate her about a supposed corrupt conspiracy led by Ms. Pelosi and other prominent liberal figures.
He was convicted of two federal crimes: attempted kidnapping of a federal officer and assault on an immediate family member of a federal official.
Prosecutors asked the court to impose the statutory maximum sentences for each offense — 20 years for the kidnapping charge and 30 years for the assault charge. The court did so, but it denied the prosecutors’ request that ten years of those sentences be served consecutively, meaning Mr. DePape would have been imprisoned for a total of 40 years. Instead, the judge, Jacqueline Scott Corley, said the sentences would run concurrently.