A federal jury has convicted the suspect accused of the violent hammer attack in opposition to Paul Pelosi at his and previous House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco house ultimate yr.
The jury started deliberating Wednesday afternoon prior to attaining a verdict overdue Thursday morning, discovering David DePape guilty on each federal counts.
Pelosi, 83, suffered a cranium fracture after being struck in the top with a hammer all the way through the early morning attack on Oct. 28, 2022, which took place simply days prior to the midterm elections, police mentioned.
DePape, 43, was once arrested on the scene and due to this fact charged with tried kidnapping and attack as a result of a federal respectable’s efficiency of respectable tasks. The fees lift a most sentence of twenty years and 30 years, respectively, in jail. He has pleaded now not guilty.
Paul Pelosi attends a portrait unveiling rite for his spouse, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in Statuary Hall on the Capitol, Dec. 14, 2022, in Washington.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
While at the stand all the way through the trial, DePape mentioned he went to the house to speak to Rep. Pelosi about Russian interference in the 2016 election and that her husband was once “never my target,” in step with The Associated Press.
“I’m sorry that he got hurt,” he mentioned.
“I reacted because my plan was basically ruined,” he mentioned.
While attesting all the way through the trial on Nov. 13, Pelosi mentioned he was once on my own in the house whilst Rep. Pelosi was once in Washington, D.C., when DePape burst via his bed room door retaining a hammer in one hand and a few ties in the opposite, time and again asking, “Where’s Nancy?”
“I recognized I was in serious danger, so I tried to stay as calm as possible,” Pelosi testified.
In a remark following the decision, a spokesperson for the Pelosi circle of relatives mentioned they’re “deeply grateful for the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes for Mr. Pelosi from so many across the country during this difficult time.”
“The Pelosi family is very proud of their Pop, who demonstrated extraordinary composure and courage on the night of the attack a year ago and in the courtroom this week,” the spokesperson mentioned. “Thankfully, Mr. Pelosi continues to make progress in his recovery.”
The incident was once captured on police physique digital camera video.
The photos, launched previous this yr to news organizations, displays officials arriving on the place of abode. When the door is opened, Pelosi is noticed status subsequent to DePape and each are suffering over a hammer. One of the officials says, “Drop the hammer.”
This nonetheless symbol from a San Francisco Police Department police body-cam video ordered launched through San Francisco Superior Court, displays suspect David DePape (L) assaulting Paul Pelosi, husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, at their San Francisco house, Oct. 28, 2022.
San Francisco Police Department/AFP by way of Getty Images
DePape is then noticed gaining keep an eye on of the hammer and swinging it at Pelosi. The photos does now not display the instant Pelosi was once struck. The officials then input the house and paintings to restrain DePape as Pelosi is noticed mendacity at the flooring.
Prosecutors confirmed jurors physique digital camera photos from the incident, together with video of DePape admitting to the attack whilst chatting with police outdoor the Pelosis’ house.
Paul Pelosi was once hospitalized for 6 days and returned house to get well.
“I’ve tried putting it out of my mind,” he mentioned. “I made the best effort possible to not relive it.”
Federal prosecutor Laura Vartain Horn mentioned DePape began making plans the attack in August 2022 and paid a public data carrier to seek out information about Rep. Pelosi and others, in step with the AP.
“The evidence in this case is going to show that when the defendant used this hammer to break into the Pelosi’s home he intended to kidnap Nancy Pelosi,” Vartain Horn mentioned in opening statements, in step with the AP.
The protection has now not disputed that DePape attacked Pelosi, however has challenged the fees that DePape was once making an attempt to intervene with Rep. Pelosi’s respectable tasks, telling jurors her consumer believed he was once looking to forestall executive corruption, the AP reported.
“This is not a ‘whodunit.’ But what the government fails to acknowledge is the ‘whydunit,’ and the why matters in this case,” she mentioned, in step with the AP.
David DePape in Berkeley, Calif., Dec. 13, 2013.
Michael Short/San Francisco Chronicle by way of Getty Images
Officials mentioned they came upon zip ties at the scene together with rope, tape and different issues in DePape’s backpack.
DePape advised investigators he was once “going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her,” in step with government. If she advised the reality, he mentioned he “would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps,'” the criticism mentioned.
DePape additionally faces state fees in the incident. He pleaded now not guilty to state fees together with tried homicide, residential housebreaking and attack with a dangerous weapon. A state trial date has now not but been scheduled.
ABC News’ Jaclyn Lee and Ivan Pereira contributed to this record.
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