A federal jury found David DePape guilty of breaking into the San Francisco home of former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2022 and launching a brutal hammer attack on her husband Paul.
DePape, 43, could face a life sentence in federal prison if convicted of the Oct. 28, 2022 home invasion attack that left 83-year-old Paul Pelosi with a fractured skull and other serious injuries.
During the week-long [started Thursday] trial, DePape took the stand and said he was initially looking for Pelosi’s wife, Nancy, so he could speak to her about Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.
Federal prosecutors, however, said DePape broke into the home at about 2 a.m. to “break [Nancy’s] knee caps,” but instead found a sleeping Paul Pelosi in the couple’s bedroom because the former House Speaker was in Washington DC at the time.
Jurors on Thursday found DePape guilty of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official in retaliation for the performance of their duties.
Jurors also found true the allegation that DePape used a dangerous weapon during the assault.
DePape did not deny the attack and tearfully apologized to Pelosi when he took the stand on Nov. 14.
“He was never my target and I’m sorry he got hurt,” DePape, 43, told jurors. “I reacted because my plan was basically ruined,” adding he wanted to ask President Joe Biden to pardon his targets “so we can move forward as a country.”
DePape looked visibly upset as the verdict was read, his hands clasped in front of him, a source who was inside the courtroom told The Post.
“His eyes started blinking and his attorney placed his hands on him and they spoke for a while,” the source said.
DePape is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on December 13.
DePape’s defense attorney, Jodi Linker, told jurors her client’s decision to break into the Pelosi home had nothing to do with Nancy Pelosi’s top position in Congress at the time. Instead, she insisted it was part of a larger plan to attack a list of people for reasons based on baseless right-wing conspiracies he had read.
DePape’s other “targets” included actor Tom Hanks, [Calif. rep] Adam Schiff, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter and billionaire George Soros.
One of DePape’s main targets, however, was Bay Area scholar Dr. Gayle Rubin, a leading academic in feminist theory and queer studies.
DePape testified he believed Rubin “wanted to turn schools into pedophile molestation factories.” The educator took the stand during the trial and said her teachings on gender and the gay movement were often misconstrued.
DePape often wrote about QAnon and unfounded theories that former President Donald Trump was at war with a cabal of Satan-worshiping Democrat elites who run a global pedophile sex ring.
Prosecutors said DePape was unable to carry out his plans to harm his other targets because Paul Pelosi managed to call 911 and told a dispatcher, “This gentleman just came into the house and wants to wait here until my wife comes home and, anyway, he’s telling me to put the phone down.”
Pelosi also testified during the trial and recounted the terrifying moment he saw DePape in his bedroom.
“The door opened and a very large man came in with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other and he said, ‘Where’s Nancy? And I think that woke me up,” Paul Pelosi testified.
He added, “I recognized I was in serious danger.”
Gypsy Taub, a well-known Bay Area pro-nudity activist who has been in a relationship with DePape for 15 years, told The Post she is disappointed jurors did not see the “many holes” in the prosecution’s case.
Taub pointed to the discrepancy between the time stamp on the police body-worn camera video footage that noted the officers arrived at the house around 9:30 p.m.
However, prosecutors said the cops arrived at Pelosi’s door around 2:30 a.m.
Taub said she is afraid DePape is being tortured in jail, and that she and her children with DePape are being kept away from visiting him.
“There was enough evidence presented in court to hugely question the officials’ story,” Taub said. “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if jurors were threatened by the people who created this cover up because what is being covered up is really big.
“The jurors also might’ve voted guilty out of fear because I just don’t understand how they could’ve believed it.”
With Post wires
