United States – A man who attacked the husband of the U. S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will appear before the court again on the Tuesday after the federal judge of the case did not let him to say something during his last sentencing hearing on October 2022.
Guilty Verdict
David DePape was found guilty in the attack earlier this year on Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in a bid to kidnap the house speaker; he was sentenced to 30 years in prison on May 17, having forced his way into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco early on October 28, 2022, as reported by Reuters.
They also said that when passing the sentence, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley did not allow DePape to speak to the court, which was a “clear error” according to the federal judicial rules; the judge wrote this in the filing the following morning.
Essentially, the judge said she opened the sentencing for Tuesday to allow him to argue on his own behalf, stating that neither the prosecutor nor the defense attorneys brought the matter to her during the May 17 hearing.
Thus, in November, a jury convicted DePape of the first-degree attempted kidnapping of a federal officer and the aggravated assault of an immediate family member thereof. Investigators explained that 44-year-old man acted based on beliefs in conspiracy theories such as QAnon.
Victim’s Testimony
Paul Pelosi, 82, has said he still endures the effects of a skull fracture and other harm, as revealed in a legal document. During the meeting, Pelosi described that apart from dizziness and the metal plate still lodged in his head, he has problems balancing and has a damaged nerve in his left hand that has been rendered inactive.
Notably, Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives from the Democratic party at the time of the attack, was in Washington at the time of the attack, as reported by Reuters.
DePape is still facing other state charges related to the Pelosi invasion and attack; attempted murder is also among them. The above charges attract a penalty of 13 years to life imprisonment. At this, the defendant has invoked the provision of not guilty.