David DePape, who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband with hammer, gets 30 years in prison
- DePape forcibly entered the then US House Speaker’s home, reportedly shouting ‘Where’s Nancy?’ and intending to take her hostage
- Her spouse, Paul Pelosi, 82, suffered skull fractures and other injuries that have continued to affect him, the court heard before the sentencing
The man who broke into former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home in 2022 and assaulted her husband with a hammer was sentenced on Friday to 30 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
In a politically motivated attack, David DePape forcibly entered Pelosi’s home in San Francisco early in the morning on October 28, 2022, just a week before that year’s congressional elections. At the time, Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, was in Washington.
DePape, who according to prosecutors was driven by the far-right conspiracy theories known as QAnon, acknowledged in trial testimony that his intention was to take Pelosi hostage.
DePape, 44, confronted Pelosi’s husband, Paul, and clubbed him over the head with a hammer before police who had been called to the scene were able to subdue the attacker.
A jury found DePape guilty in November of attempting to kidnap a federal officer and assaulting an immediate family member of a federal officer.
Paul Pelosi, 82, suffered skull fractures and other injuries that have continued to affect him, as he described in a letter to the judge ahead of Friday’s sentencing.