David DePape's Sentencing Reevaluation: Interruptions in Justice

David DePape, sentenced to 30 years for assaulting U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband in 2022, will get another court hearing after being denied the opportunity to speak during his earlier sentencing. He was found guilty of attempting to kidnap a federal officer and assaulting a family member. DePape faces additional state charges.

A man who assaulted U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband in 2022 will have another day in court on Tuesday after the federal judge overseeing the case failed to allow him to speak during his sentencing hearing earlier this month. David DePape was sentenced to 30 years in prison on May 17 for forcibly entering Pelosi's home in San Francisco early on Oct. 28, 2022 and clubbing her husband Paul in the head with a hammer in a politically motivated attack.

During the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley failed to give DePape a chance to address the court, a "clear error" under the federal judicial rules, the judge wrote in a court filing the next day. The judge said she reopened the sentencing for Tuesday to allow him to speak on his own behalf, noting that both the prosecutor and defense attorneys also failed to raise the issue with her during the May 17 hearing.

In November, a jury found DePape guilty of attempting to kidnap a federal officer and assaulting an immediate family member of a federal officer. Prosecutors said the 44-year-old was driven by the far-right conspiracy theories known as QAnon. Paul Pelosi, 82, suffered skull fractures and other injuries that have continued to affect him, according to a letter filed in court. In addition to dizziness and a metal plate that remains in his head, Pelosi said he has struggled with balance and has permanent nerve damage in his left hand.

Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives at the time of the attack, was in Washington when it occurred. DePape still faces separate state charges stemming from the Pelosi break-in and attack, including attempted murder. Those charges carry a potential sentence of 13 years to life in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.

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