Judge Harry Dorfman on Tuesday sentenced a man convicted of assaulting Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s husband to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The convicted perpetrator, David DePaap, was found guilty by a jury in June of charges including aggravated kidnapping, first-degree robbery and false imprisonment of an elderly person, the Associated Press announced. reported. DePaap was convicted in 2022 of attacking her husband, former House Speaker Paul Pelosi, then 82, in their home with a hammer.
Man sentenced to life in prison for attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband https://t.co/GD7fPNOoBm pic.twitter.com/6qteIHhcI4
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“My intent is that Mr. DePaap will never be able to get out of prison, and he will never be eligible for parole,” Dorfman said during sentencing, according to the Associated Press. At that time, the judge rejected the defense’s argument that DePap should receive a new trial. One of Ms DePape’s lawyers, Adam Lipson, asked the judge to consider the idea that Ms DePape’s fragile mental state and isolation made her a target of online propaganda. (Related: Justice Department recommends 40 years in prison for man who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband)
“This is a man who was always peaceful and law-abiding until it was activated,” Lipson said.
Before his sentencing, DePaap argued in court that 9/11 was an inside job, that his ex-wife had been replaced by a doppelgänger and that his public defender had conspired against him, the Associated Press reported. “I’m a psychic,” he said. “The more you meditate, the more inspired you become.”
This is the second time Depapes has been sentenced for assault. In the first case, a federal court sentenced DePape to 30 years in prison in May. Dorfman is the presiding judge in the state trial, and his sentence will be handed down at the same time as his federal sentence, according to the Associated Press. DePaap’s lawyers argued that the two trials, one in federal court and one in state court, represented double jeopardy because different criminal charges stemmed from the same conduct.
