sa Francisco – A man who beat Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer and was sentenced to 30 years in federal court was also convicted Friday of aggravated kidnapping by a state court, which could land him behind bars for the rest of your life.
A federal judge last month sentenced David DePape to 30 years in federal prison for 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi.
On Friday, a San Francisco jury also found DePape guilty of first-degree robbery, false imprisonment of an elderly person, threatening a family member of a public official, dissuading a witness to the charges and aggravated kidnapping.
DePape’s public defender, Adam Lipson, told the jury during closing arguments that DePape was guilty of three of the charges, but that prosecutors did not present evidence to convict him of threatening a family member of a public servant and of aggravated kidnapping. .
Prosecutors added those two charges in late May, as DePape’s federal trial was wrapping up.
A federal jury convicted DePape of assaulting a family member of a federal employee and attempting to kidnap a federal employee. On May 28, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison during an unusual resentencing hearing that resulted from a miscarriage of justice. DePape will likely be deported back to Canada after serving his punishment.
Lipson previously argued that the state trial represents a double jeopardy following the federal conviction. Although the criminal charges are not the same, the two cases stem from the same fact, he told the judge.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman agreed and dismissed state charges of attempted murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. Another judge upheld the decision on appeal.
Lipson focused his closing arguments on explaining to the jury that prosecutors did not prove that DePape kidnapped Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, with the intention of “demanding money or something valuable from another person,” which is an integral part of the indictment.
Prosecutors said what DePape wanted with the kidnapping was to create a video of Nancy Pelosi confessing to the crimes he believed she had committed, prosecutors said.
Lipson argued that the video did not exist and, if it did, would have no value.
“When he broke into the Pelosis’ home, his intention was to confront and potentially harm and assault Nancy Pelosi. That was his intention at that time, that has nothing to do with Mr. Pelosi,” he said.
In her rebuttal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Phoebe Maffei pointed out that DePape told a detective and testified in federal court that he planned to obtain a video of Nancy Pelosi confessing to what he believed were crimes and post it on the internet.
“There is inherent value in a video of the Mayor confessing to crimes in his own home,” Maffei said.
The attack on Paul Pelosi was captured on police body camera video just days before the 2022 midterm elections and shocked the political world. He suffered two head injuries, including a fractured skull that was repaired with plates and screws that he will wear for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.
On Monday, Maffei told the jury that DePape unleashed a “reign of terror” on Paul Pelosi before beating him with a gavel as part of a plan he hatched over months.
“The simple facts of this case are terrifying in themselves, without embellishment,” Maffei said. “David DePape broke into an 82-year-old man’s home while he was sleeping, entered his bedroom, held him hostage with a hammer, threatened him, threatened his wife and tried to kill him.”
DePape admitted during his federal trial testimony that he planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage, record her interrogation and “break her knees” if she did not admit to the lies he said she told about “Russiagate,” a reference to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Lipson told the jury during closing arguments that before the attack, DePape lived an isolated and lonely life and “fell down the rabbit hole of propaganda and conspiracy theories.”
This week, the judge kicked DePape’s ex-partner out of the public gallery and off the second floor of the San Francisco courthouse because the judge said she was trying to interfere with the jury.
On Monday and Tuesday, Gypsy Taub, a well-known activist in the Bay Area, passed out pieces of paper outside the courthouse with the address of a website she runs that promotes conspiracy theories. The cards were also found in a women’s restroom near the courthouse, where the website’s address was scrawled on a wall.
“You have been attempting to corruptly influence one or more members of the jury,” Dorfman said sternly before asking two bailiffs to escort Taub out of the courtroom.
DePape’s federal public defender said during his federal sentencing that DePape was first exposed to extreme beliefs by Taub, who has two children with DePape.
Taub met DePape in Hawaii when he was 20 and she was pregnant in her 30s, DePape’s twin sister, Joanne Robinson, said in a letter to the federal judge asking for leniency.
Robinson wrote that Taub isolated DePape from his family and inflicted “extreme psychological harm” on his brother.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
