David DePape found guilty on all charges in state trial for attack on Paul Pelosi

SAN FRANCISCO — A state jury on Friday found David DePape guilty on all charges related to his home invasion hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.

DePape was found guilty of the five counts he faced in the state trial, including aggravated kidnapping resulting in bodily harm or death, false imprisonment of an elder or dependent adult, threatening family of public officials, first degree residential burglary and preventing or dissuading a witness by force or threat. 

The jury reached a unanimous decision on all five counts, court officials said.

The jury began its deliberations Tuesday afternoon in San Francisco. Court officials said the verdict had been reached Friday afternoon and announced the jury’s verdict shortly after 4 p.m. There was no court on Wednesday because of the Juneteenth holiday.

During his closing arguments, San Francisco Public Defender Adam Lipson said DePape had been living a solitary life and had gone “down the rabbit hole of propaganda and conspiracy theories” when he broke into the Pelosis’ home on Oct. 28, 2022.

Aaron Bennett, spokesman for Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, issued this statement on behalf of the Pelosi family:

“Speaker Pelosi and her family remain in awe of their Pop’s bravery, which shone through again on the witness stand in this trial just as it did when he saved his own life on the night of the attack. For nearly 20 grueling months, Mr. Pelosi has demonstrated extraordinary courage and fortitude every day of his recovery. The Pelosi family is grateful for the kind thoughts and prayers they continue to receive. Speaker Pelosi and her family will refrain from further substantive comment until sentencing is complete.”  

After the verdict was read, outside the courtroom, Lipson questioned the prosecutors’ decision to file a kidnapping for ransom charge after several charges were dismissed earlier in the trial.

“Disappointed with the verdict, obviously. I don’t believe that this was a kidnapping for ransom. I think that it’s really unfortunate it was charged this way,” said Lipson. “It was sort of a textbook vindictive prosecution. As soon as they found out that the attempted murder charge was going to be dismissed, they added this charge.”

Earlier this month, the judge in the state trial granted a defense motion to dismiss three counts in the case against DePape — attempted murder, assault of an elder and assault with a deadly weapon — based on the public defender’s argument that the counts fell under double jeopardy.  

DePape was sentenced last month to 30 years in federal prison after a jury in November 2023 found him guilty of attempting to hold then-Speaker Pelosi hostage and assaulting her husband at the couple’s San Francisco mansion in Pacific Heights. 

The attack on then-82-year-old Paul Pelosi was captured on police bodycam video after officers responded to his 911 call and found him struggling with DePape who then bludgeoned Pelosi with a hammer. Just days before the 2022 midterm elections, the incident sent shockwaves through the political world and was attributed to the predictable effects of increasingly demonizing political rhetoric.

Opening statements in the state trial began in late May, a day after DePape’s federal sentencing was reopened to allow him to speak after a procedural error during his original sentencing.   

Lipson also noted that the guilty verdict on all five counts means that following his 30-year federal prison sentence, DePape could be facing spending the rest of his life in a California prison rather than being deported to Canada.