The Department of Justice is recommending a 40-year prison sentence for the man convicted of an October 2022 assault and attempted kidnapping after breaking into the home of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and attacking her husband.
Federal prosecutors argue that the crimes constitute an act of terrorism under U.S. law, in a sentencing memorandum submitted Friday.
David DePape broke into then-House Speaker Pelosi’s home and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2022. DePape was searching for Nancy Pelosi, he told investigators later, but her husband was the only person inside their San Francisco home at the time, police said. Paul Pelosi, now 84, was hospitalized with a skull fracture and “serious injuries to his right arm and hands,” according to the speaker’s office.
At trial in November, DePape’s attorney, federal public defender Jodi Linker, argued that DePape’s actions were not in retaliation for Nancy Pelosi’s work as House speaker, but out of a QAnon-fueled desire to free children from the clutches of a corrupt elite class. Linker did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on the sentencing recommendation.
During the trial, DePape testified that he planned to wear a unicorn costume and film himself questioning Nancy Pelosi about statements concerning alleged Russian influence on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
DePape’s federal sentencing is scheduled for May 17. He also faces state charges and has pleaded not guilty.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/05/11/david-depape-paul-pelosi-sentence-recommendation/