Paul Pelosi hammer attack: David DePape went down conspiracy rabbit hole, defense says
Barnini Chakraborty
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David DePape, the man accused of attacking former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband, Paul, with a hammer, went down a right-wing conspiracy theory rabbit hole believing outlandish accusations about the likes of George Soros, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and even the Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, a jury heard Thursday.
Defense attorney Jodi Linker told jurors in a San Francisco federal courtroom in her opening statement that DePape, a onetime nude enthusiast-turned-hemp jewelry maker, wholeheartedly believes “Tom Hanks, the actor, raped a 13-year-old girl.”
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Linker explained that DePape also firmly believes allegations that Schiff abuses children, Hunter Biden is on a corruption spree, and Democratic megadonor Soros is trying to use his massive fortune to control the middle class.
“Members of the jury, many of us do not believe any of that, but the evidence in this trial will show that Mr. DePape believes all of these things … with every ounce of his being,” Linker said.
DePape, 43, is on trial for the 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.
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.
Rather than dispute DePape’s comments from that night to investigators, his defense has chosen to instead focus on his motivations and will argue that Paul Pelosi was not his intended target but that he had to knock him down in order to wage a moral war against his wife, Nancy Pelosi, someone DePape continues to believe is corrupt and harmful to society.
“This is not a whodunit,” Linker said. “But what the government fails to acknowledge is why ‘whydunit,’ and the why matters.”
Prosecutors told jurors that DePape started to research Nancy Pelosi about a week before the attack on her husband and that DePape got the names of her family members, including her children and grandchildren, as well as other information about them. They added that DePape thought the former speaker was “evil” and had “planned to kidnap her, to hold her hostage, to break her kneecaps, to teach her a lesson.”
Among those in the courtroom Thursday were Christine Pelosi, one of the Pelosis’ daughters, as well as DePape’s ex-girlfriend Gypsy Taub and his three children.
Paul Pelosi is expected to take the stand on Monday.
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It is unclear whether DePape will testify in his 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.