Canada’s David DePape gets life in prison on second count related to attack on Paul Pelosi

A man sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for attacking the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a hammer at their California home was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole following a separate federal trial.

A San Francisco jury in June found David DePape guilty of charges including aggravated kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment of an elderly person.

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Harry Dorfman rejected arguments by DePape’s lawyers to grant him a new trial for the 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi, who was 82 years old at the time.

“It is my intention that Mr. “DePape will never be released from prison, never to be paroled again,” said Dorfman.

DePape is a Canadian citizen who grew up in Powell River, BC, but has lived in the US for years.

Before the sentence was handed down, defense attorney Adam Lipson asked Dorfman to consider DePape’s mental health and self-isolation that made him the victim of Internet propaganda.

“This is a person who has always been a peaceful, law-abiding person until he started working,” said Lipson.

DePape told court he’s ‘a genius’

When given a chance to address the court before his sentencing, DePape, who wore prison orange and wore his brown hair in a ponytail, spoke at length about Sept. 11 as an inside job, where his ex-wife was replaced by a body double. , and his government-appointed lawyers conspired.

“I’m a magician,” DePape told the court, reading from the papers. “The more I meditate, the more psychic I get.”

In a letter read in court by the victim’s daughter, Christine Pelosi, Paul Pelosi asked for the maximum sentence, saying his “last peaceful sleep” ended suddenly “when the defendant broke into my house, entered my bedroom and stood near my bed with a hammer and zipper I wanted to see my wife, yelling ‘Where’s Nancy ?’

He said the attack left him with bumps on his head, a concussion, dizziness and nerve damage in his left hand. Sleeping alone at home brings back memories of the attack, he said.

Earlier, a judge convicted DePape of assaulting a family member of a government official and attempting to kidnap a government official. In May, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison during a mistrial.

The penalty in the federal case will run concurrently with the federal sentence.

DePape’s attorneys said the federal trial was doubly jeopardy following his conviction. Although the criminal charges were not exactly the same, the two charges stemmed from the same act, they argued.

The judge dismissed some of the federal charges but kept others that could not be joined in the federal case.

The attack on Paul Pelosi on October 28, 2022 was captured on police body camera video just days before the midterm elections and shocked the political world. He had injuries to his head, including a skull that was bound with plates and screws. His right arm and hand were injured.

DePape admitted during his trial that he planned to arrest Nancy Pelosi, tape her for questioning, and “break her kneecaps” if she did not confess to the lies he said he told about “Russiagate,” a reference to the investigation. Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.