DePape later told police that if he had found Nancy Pelosi and she had lied, he would have broken her kneecaps, according to court records.
“He also told Mr. Pelosi that Speaker Emerita Pelosi was ‘the leader of the pack’ and that the defendant ‘had to take her out,’” the government’s sentencing memo reads.
“Lurking in the background of this is the idea that this guy is dangerous because he appears to have a mentally unbalanced view of the world, and he doesn’t appear to have retreated from that mental imbalance,” said Little, the law professor.
According to his own testimony during his trial, DePape planned to wear an inflatable unicorn costume while livestreaming his questioning of Pelosi, but she wasn’t his ultimate target. Rather, he hoped to lure feminist theorist and cultural anthropologist at the University of Michigan Gayle Rubin, whose identity is sealed in federal court behind the pseudonym “Target 1.”
“Target 1” is among those subpoenaed for the sentencing hearing on Friday, according to court records.
DePape’s attorneys argue that previously undiagnosed mental health issues made him vulnerable to “manipulation and unusual beliefs.”
“Mr. DePape’s beliefs did not come out of nowhere,” a sentencing memo said, adding that a redacted mental health condition “made him ‘especially vulnerable to believing QAnon conspiracy theories, and to being especially psychologically affected by their content.’”
“QAnon adherents rarely self-identity as such, and Mr. DePape is no different. But his beliefs are consistent with QAnon theories,” attorneys wrote.
The prosecution argues that DePape’s isolation and consumption of YouTube videos “do not excuse the instant offense, nor give a reason for leniency given the violent extremism that the defendant unleashed in October 2022.”
His defense attorneys said his actions were also heavily influenced by his relationship with the pro-nudity activist Gypsy Taub, with whom DePape shares three children.
“His long-term relationship with his ex-partner, Gypsy Taub, inflicted immeasurable harm to his mental state and what little support network he had in the form of his family,” they argue.
Prosecutors argue DePape hasn’t accepted responsibility for his crimes and is proud of what he did, pointing to his jail-house January 2023 phone call to a KTVU reporter, during which he apologized to the American people, saying he should have come “better prepared” to the Pelosis’ home on the night of the attack.
“You’re welcome,” he told the TV station. “The tree of liberty isn’t dying. It’s being killed, systematically and deliberately.” He added, “The tree of liberty needs watering.”
DePape is currently in custody at the San Francisco County Jail. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley is set to deliver DePape’s sentence in federal court on Friday morning.
A second trial in state court will start in the coming weeks. In that case, DePape is facing charges including attempted murder, residential burglary, seriously injuring an elder adult, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and threatening a public official’s family member.