San Francisco:
A man who attacked the elderly husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a hammer was sentenced Tuesday in a California state court to life in prison without parole, the district attorney general’s office said.
David DePape, who broke into the couple’s San Francisco home and beat down Paul Pelosi in a horrific attack captured on police bodycam, was already serving a 30-year federal prison sentence for the incident.
A San Francisco judge sentenced DePape, 44, “to life in prison without the possibility of parole following his conviction on aggravated kidnapping and other charges,” the San Francisco attorney general’s office said in a statement.
At the time of the attack in October 2022, Democrat Nancy Pelosi was second only to the presidency and was a regular target of bizarre far-right conspiracy theories.
DePape – a Canadian former nudist activist who occasionally supported herself with carpentry – initially planned to target Nancy Pelosi. But instead he met her then 82-year-old husband.
During what DePape told officers was a “pretty amicable” conversation with Paul Pelosi, the man managed to call for help from law enforcement.
When police arrived moments later, DePape hit Pelosi with a hammer before officers rushed over and removed the weapon.
Pelosi was knocked unconscious and suffered a fractured skull. He spent almost a week in a hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Nancy Pelosi was not home the night of the attack.
Just before his sentencing Tuesday, DePape gave a stormy, tearful statement about conspiracy theories, including the September 11 attacks and “evil magical murder rituals,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
He did not apologize to the Pelosi family, the newspaper said.
DePape’s attorneys have previously said they plan to appeal.
He “will now face justice for the violence he has caused as a result of the overheated, dangerous and divisive rhetoric spread both online and in person,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in the statement.
“While some politicians made light of this incident and joked about it to score political points, this was a heinous attack on one of our leaders, a family and our democracy. We must all do our part to stand up for 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.)