‘Callousness’ of Paul Pelosi Attack Justifies Potential Life Sentence, Judge Says

A state judge has set the final sentencing hearing for David Wayne DePape for Oct. 29, two years and a day after he broke into Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home in a plot to kidnap the then-House speaker.

Judge Harry Dorfman said Thursday that DePape qualifies for the strictest punishments allowed by law after finding he is “a danger to society” for the “callousness” shown during his hammer attack on Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in October 2022.

A jury convicted DePape, 44, of five felony counts in June. One of those was for kidnapping involving a ransom, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, making DePape’s sentences for the other felonies all but moot.

Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Maffei argued in court on Thursday morning that DePape should face the strictest penalties at his sentencing, using enhancements built into California criminal law. Those included that he acted with a “high degree of cruelty, viciousness, or callousness,” that Paul Pelosi — who was 82 and recovering from knee surgery at the time — couldn’t defend himself, and that DePape used a high level of planning to orchestrate the attack, making him a danger to society.

According to trial testimony, DePape took BART from the East Bay to the Pelosis’ Pacific Heights home in the early hours of Oct. 28, 2022. He planned to interrogate the House speaker regarding Russiagate, a debunked conspiracy theory regarding the investigations into Russia’s meddling in U.S. elections, but she wasn’t home at the time.

When Capitol Police responded to a call Paul Pelosi made from his bedroom bathroom with DePape standing in the doorway, they found the two struggling over a hammer near the home’s front door, which DePape then used to hit Pelosi over the head several times.

The items DePape brought with him to carry out the attack included a sledgehammer, multiple packs of differently-sized zip ties and GoPro cameras. Maffei reiterated to Dorfman on Thursday that DePape planned to break Pelosi’s kneecaps so she would have to enter Congress in a wheelchair.

“You went to the Pelosi home for very specific purposes,” Dorfman said to DePape, as he ruled there was evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that his actions met the criteria for the enhanced sentences. “There’s callousness here.”

DePape told investigators he also intended to attack other well-known people, including actor Tom Hanks and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Another of DePape’s intended targets was his ex-wife, Gypsy Taub, who was barred from DePape’s state trial when the judge accused her of attempting to intimidate the jury.

In a separate federal case, DePape had already been sentenced in May to 30 years in federal prison for one count of attempted kidnapping of a federal officer and one count of assault on the immediate family member of a federal official.

Appearing at the Hall of Justice in an orange jail uniform, DePape didn’t speak at Thursday’s hearing other than saying “Yes” when waiving his right to be sentenced within the next three weeks.

Just before DePape’s sentencing on Oct. 29, Deputy Public Defender Adam Lipson plans to argue a motion for a new trial in state court on the grounds that DePape’s prosecution was “vindictive,” as prosecutors filed the kidnapping charge after they learned a charge of attempted murder was going to be dismissed.

“It’s basically all arguments we’ve already made,” Lipson told Dorfman.