SAN FRANCISCO — The man convicted of plotting to kidnap then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi and bludgeoning her husband, Paul, in the head with a hammer at their San Francisco home has once again been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison over the 2022 attack.
A judge’s error had thrown the federal case into disarray after defendant David DePape’s attorneys said the court violated his rights when he wasn’t given a chance to speak to the court at his May 17 sentencing. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley offered DePape a do-over to speak to the court while she denied his attorneys’ requests to send the case to another judge.
DePape spoke for about a minute. He apologized for harming Paul Pelosi and said he regretted not leaving the house after he broke in and realized Nancy Pelosi was out of town.
“I should have left when Nancy wasn’t there,” DePape said as he broke into tears and one of his attorneys patted him on the back. “I feel horrible about hurting Paul Pelosi.”
Corley apologized for her procedural error in not allowing DePape the chance to speak at his initial sentencing. She ultimately handed down the same, 30-year sentence.
“This is an incredibly serious and horrible crime,” Corley said.
DePape was convicted on two federal counts of attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official and assault on an immediate family member of a U.S. official during his trial last November. His attorneys are appealing the conviction.
He admitted during his rambling federal trial testimony that he had planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and potentially harm her as part of a plot to expose Democrats’ so-called lies about former President Donald Trump and the 2020 election.
DePape now faces a separate state trial on additional charges that could carry a lifetime sentence. His trial is scheduled to start Wednesday in San Francisco.
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