Opening arguments are set to begin Thursday in the federal trial of David DePape, a California man caught on camera last year attacking Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), with a hammer, fracturing his skull and causing other bodily damage.
The 43-year-old faces charges of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family of a federal official. If convicted, he could be sentenced to prison for the rest of his life.
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Prosecutors allege DePape entered the Pelosis’ home in the tony Pacific Heights neighborhood on Oct. 28, 2022, after smashing a rear glass door with a hammer and then headed up to the second floor of the house, where he found Paul Pelosi asleep. DePape allegedly screamed “Where’s Nancy?” repeatedly at her husband, who managed to make a 911 telephone call in which he spoke to the dispatcher and left the line open for authorities. The dispatcher, realizing something was wrong, sent the police to the address.
When officers arrived around 2:30 a.m., Paul Pelosi opened the door. The officers saw Paul Pelosi and DePape with their hands on a 5-pound steel hammer. They told both men to drop the hammer, but DePape wrestled it away, swung it, and hit Paul Pelosi in the head, according to authorities. Paul Pelosi fell to the ground, unconscious, and the officers restrained DePape.
DePape was arrested at the scene on suspicion of several criminal counts, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and dissuading a witness to a crime.
Following the attack, DePape told a San Francisco Police Department investigator he was on a “suicide mission” and had planned to take the former speaker hostage and wanted to “break her calves” until she took back comments she made about former President Donald Trump losing the 2020 election. The longtime lawmaker was asleep in Washington when the attack on her husband took place.
DePape’s comments, coupled with his history, intensified concern that right-wing rhetoric had inspired the violence against Paul Pelosi, similar to the riots on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.
Some conservatives tried to pin the blame on leftists, citing DePape’s one-time affiliation with the Green Party, but DePape’s past led to more questions than answers.
The Canadian-born carpenter has a twin sister, Joanne Robinson, who lives in New Zealand and faded from his life more than two decades ago. About 11 years ago, DePape joined a coalition of nudist activists who showed up naked on the streets of San Francisco to protest restrictions the Board of Supervisors approved that year.
When DePape was in his 30s, he aligned himself with Gypsy Taub, whom the San Francisco Chronicle described as a “high-profile nudist” and “9/11 denier” who disrobed during a hearing inside City Hall.
DePape lived with Taub, her fiance Jaymz Smith, and their three children in a three-bedroom Victorian flat in Berkeley, where DePape made jewelry out of hemp. In voting records, he was listed as a member of the left-leaning Green Party.
In the years that followed, his ideology changed dramatically, and he recast himself as an alt-right conspiracy theorist. He latched on to QAnon philosophies, which included believing Trump was the ultimate hero against an alliance of Satan-worshiping Democratic pedophiles. DePape also started writing blogs that were laced with bigoted commentary about Jewish people, Muslims, people of color, women, immigrants, and the LGBT community.
Following his arrest, DePape said other people on his hit list included Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), actor Tom Hanks, Hunter Biden, and feminist writer and anthropologist Gayle Rubin.
Ahead of the trial, DePape’s public defender pushed for a change of venue, which was denied. His attorney argued the publicity generated from the case meant DePape would not be able to receive a fair trial in San Francisco and instead asked to move the proceedings to Eureka, a city near the border with Oregon.
On Monday, DePape, wearing a crew neck sweater and ponytail, sat quietly in court next to his lawyers as jury selection began. Sixteen jurors were sworn in around 2:30 p.m.
Paul Pelosi is expected to take the stand next week.
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It is unclear whether DePape will testify in his own defense.
In December, DePape pleaded not guilty to six charges, including attempted murder and first-degree residential burglary, brought by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office in the state’s concurrent case against him.
