Paul Pelosi Attacker David DePape Sentenced: Life In Prison Without Parole

San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman sentenced David DePape, the man who assaulted and severely injured Paul Pelosi, the husband of former Speaker of the House and current Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), to life in prison without parole on Tuesday, adding the life sentence to the 30 year federal sentence handed down in May and ensuring that he never leaves prison again.

On October 28, 2022, Paul Pelosi, then home alone in San Francisco, was attacked by DePape. Armed with a hammer, DePape broke into the Pelosi home and began calling out for the Speaker, causing Paul Pelosi to call the police and confront the man. DePape tried to tie Pelosi up while saying that he wanted to do the same to his wife. A scuffle soon broke out, which at that time police arrived in time to see DePape start to attack Pelosi. Special agents from the U.S. Capitol Police’s California Field Office and SFPD officers quickly tackled DePape as a result and arrested him.

Pelosi recovered from his injuries, while DePape has been in jail for over the year, the subject of a joint SFPD, FBI, and Capitol Police investigation. In the year since, DePape has said that his real target was Nancy Pelosi, that he had planned to break her kneecaps for “lying,” and that he had several other prominent officials and celebrities on his attack list, including Governor Gavin Newsom, actor Tom Hanks and President Joe Biden’s son Hunter.

DePape was eventually charged by the federal government with one count each of “attempted kidnapping of a federal official in the performance of official duties” and “assaulting an immediate member of a federal official’s family and inflicting a serious injury with a dangerous weapon”. The San Francisco DA also charged him with another six counts, including attempted murder, residential burglary, elder abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment of an elder, and threatening the family member of public official.

The federal trial began in November 2023, with many expecting to take several weeks. However, the timeline was shortened significantly when DePape’s legal team admitted that he did indeed attack Pelosi. Rather than challenge that, they went after how his motivation for the assault didn’t match charges against him, aiming for lesser charges rather than being outright not guilty. This admission led the jury to deliberate only days after the trial had started. They soon found him guilty of one count each of kidnapping and assault, with DePape to serve up to 50 years behind bars because of his crimes. DePape’s lawyers had asked for only 14 years in prison, citing mental illness. In May, DePape was finally sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The state trial in San Francisco Superior Court began on May 29th, the day after the federal trial ended. While a few charges were dismissed because of double jeopardy laws, most of the charges remained. DePape’s defense lawyer, Adam Lipson, attempted to get leniency, saying that “This is a man who has always been a peaceful, law-abiding person up until his activation.”

However, DePape’s statements didn’t win over the court. DePape said many outrageous things while under oath, including “I’m a psychic. The more I meditate, the more psychic I get.”

Life without parole

This led Judge Dorfman to issue his ruling on Tuesday, concluding that “It’s my intention that Mr. DePape will never get out of prison, he can never be paroled.”

After the ruling, Lipson said that he would be filing an appeal against the ruling. Outside of Court on Tuesday, he said, “This was like a really tragic end to a tragic story. All of you who were in the courtroom and listening to Mr. DePape’s statement saw that, quite frankly, he’s not a well man. Certain things are relevant and you are able to argue and certain things I can’t. He has some decision in what sort of defense gets run. And that defense, an insanity defense, just wasn’t applicable here.”

Most, however, saw that DePape’s sentence was fair, considering the heinousness of his crime.

Late on Tuesday, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins added, “The sentence shows there will be serious consequences for people who use violence to try to intimidate public officials and their families. I think it gives hopefully not only the Pelosi family solace but our country solace that nothing like this will be taken lightly.

“Mr. DePape has been convicted of crimes both federally and locally reflecting the public’s unanimous condemnation. Recognizing the seriousness of his crimes and the danger to democracy that Mr. DePape posed he is now being held accountable and will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.”

DePape is now more than likely going to spent the rest of his life in prison, either in a federal facility or a California state prison. However, legal experts note that his defense does have a chance on appeal to challenge the sentence.

“It’s clear that they will be appealing the ruling based on DePape’s mental state at the time of the attack and on his mental health overall,” explained Los Angeles-based lawyer Thomas Cass to the Globe on Wednesday. “Often times, cases where an individual starts saying things like he did in court, there is a bigger press on mental faculties. So that is something to look out for.

“But, more than likely, we’ll only be hearing from him in prison. And if the no chance of parole holds, we won’t even be getting parole hearings from him. This sentence is a serious message to anyone even thinking about trying something like this again.”

More on DePape’s appeal is to be announced soon.