SAN FRANCISCO – The man convicted of plotting to kidnap then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi and hit her husband Paul in the head with a hammer in their San Francisco home has been resentenced to 30 years in prison for the attack in 2022.
A judge’s error had thrown the federal case into disarray after attorneys for defendant David DePape said the court violated his rights when he was not given a chance to speak to the court during his May 17 sentencing. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley offered DePape a second chance to speak to the court while rejecting his attorneys’ requests to send the case to another judge.
DePape spoke for about a minute. He apologized for the damage Paul Pelosi and said he regretted not leaving the house after breaking in and realizing Nancy Pelosi was out of town.
“I should have left when Nancy wasn’t there,” DePape said as he burst into tears and one of his lawyers patted him on the back. “I feel terrible that I hurt Paul Pelosi.”
Corley apologized for her procedural error in not giving DePape a chance to speak during his first sentencing. She ultimately received the same 30-year sentence.
“This is an incredibly serious and heinous crime,” Corley said.
DePape was convicted at his trial last November on two federal charges of attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official and assault on an immediate family member of a U.S. official. His lawyers are appealing the conviction.
He admitted during his extensive testimony in the federal trial that he planned to take Nancy Pelosi hostage and possibly harm her as part of a plot to cover up Democrats’ alleged lies about former President Donald Trump and the 2020 election to bring to light.
DePape now faces a separate state trial on additional charges that could carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. His trial begins Wednesday in San Francisco.
