David DePape was convicted on Friday of five charges, brought by the state of California, for entering Nancy Pelosi’s home in 2022 and beating his wife with a hammer.
The ruling in the state court concluded a case that raised fears of politically motivated violence in a divided America and reflected some of the darkest currents in the country’s politics. In the years leading up to the attack, Mr. DePape was immersed in online conspiracy theories like Pizzagate and QAnon and the virulent rhetoric that right-wing figures have waged over the years against their opponents, including Pelosi.
The conviction by a state jury in a San Francisco courtroom followed Mr. DePape’s conviction in federal court last year that resulted in a 30-year sentence. There, he was found guilty of first-degree theft; false imprisonment of parents; threatening the family of a public official; kidnapping for ransom causing bodily harm; and dissuading witnesses by force or threats.
Mr. DePape, 44, now faces a possible sentence of life without parole in a state prison after serving a federal term.
During the two trials, he and his attorney never objected to the evidence against him. In an interview with police shortly after the incident in October 2022, he admitted to breaking into Ms. Pelosi’s home and assaulting her husband, Paul Pelosi. He did the same in an interview from jail with a local television station and on the witness stand in federal court.
The lawyer in the state case, Adam Lipson of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, told jurors in his closing statement on Tuesday that the group should find Mr. DePape guilty of several charges. But Mr. Lipson tried to convince jurors that the prosecution had not proven the other charges beyond a reasonable doubt. They argued, in particular, that Mr. DePape was guilty of kidnapping Mr. Pelosi because he did not tie up his victim or try to obtain a ransom.
Mr. Lipson focused on Mr. DePape’s state of mind at the time of the attack, arguing that his client was so steeped in separatism and conspiracy theories that he engaged in a nefarious and nefarious plot to interrogate Ms. Pelosi. Mr. DePape then planned to find former Vice President Mike Pence; Tom Hanks, actor; Governor Gavin Newsom of California; and others to get answers about a child rape conspiracy believed to be spreading across the United States.
“It’s totally absurd,” Mr. Lipson said of the client he was looking for. “He packed a bag with some computers, video games, goji berries, a few thousand dollars and a hammer and thought he was going to get the speaker of the House to confess to the crime.”
Phoebe Maffei, an assistant district attorney in San Francisco, painted a darker picture in closing arguments, arguing that Mr. DePape had done months of elaborate research before trying to kill Mr. Pelosi in a “reign of terror.” He said that Mr. DePape had struck Mr. Pelosi’s skull with a hammer and damaged Mr. Pelosi’s left hand until it lost full use.
“He had constant problems with balance, fainting spells, walking,” said Ms. Maffei. “Mr. Pelosi nearly died from her injuries.
Pelosi’s family, in a statement issued on Friday by Mrs. Pelosi’s office, said, “Speaker Pelosi and his family remain in awe of Pop’s courage, which shines again in the testimony at this trial as when he saved his life alone on the night of the attack. Nearly 20 months hearteningly, Mr. Pelosi has shown incredible courage and tenacity each day of his recovery.
At the federal trial, Mr. DePape’s public defenders offered a narrow defense, arguing that the charges did not apply because he did not target Pelosi based on her official duties as speaker of the House, but because they believed she was part of a corruption scheme led by the liberal elite. to destroy American freedom.
Mr. DePape was convicted in November of two federal charges: attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on an immediate family member of a federal official.
Mr. Lipson said Monday that Mr. DePape was disappointed with the verdict in the state case and the prospect of spending the last year in a California prison after serving time in federal prison.
“This is a man who suffered a lot,” the lawyer said. “He lived a very quiet and lonely life when he was just wrapped up in a lot of conspiracy theory type situations, and he also had a mental illness. He just dealt with that.”
Mr. DePape, who was 42 at the time of the crime, is a Canadian citizen who has lived in the Bay Area illegally for decades. For several years, he was in a relationship with Gypsy Taub, a San Francisco activist known for her mute protests, and the couple had two children. But after the relationship fell apart, Mr. DePape became increasingly reclusive, living for a time under a tree in Berkeley, California, a park and wading ever deeper into the dark corners of the internet.
Harry M. Dorfman, the judge overseeing the state’s case, ejected Ms. Taub from the courtroom on Tuesday after a court sketch artist found a flier Ms. Taub had left in a women’s bathroom stall asserting Mr. DePape’s innocence. Because the jury had been using the same restroom, Mr. Dorfman interviewed each person to see if anyone had seen the material before allowing the case to proceed.
After testimony began in state court, Mr. Dorfman dropped the three most serious charges: attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse. He supported his defense attorney, who said the charges would be double jeopardy because of the federal case. The judge dismissed five other charges, including false imprisonment, felony burglary and aggravated kidnapping.
On the morning of October 28, 2022, a few days before the midterm elections, Mr. DePape entered Pelosi’s home in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, carrying a large hammer and a zip-line. In police interviews and from witnesses, he said that he had been on a mission to kidnap Ms. After entering the house, he repeatedly called out, “Where’s Nancy?”
Mrs. Pelosi was in Washington, but her husband, Paul, who was 82 at the time, slept in the couple’s upstairs bedroom. Awakened by the intruder and fearing that his life was in danger, Mr. Pelosi was able to hide and call 911 from the bathroom without alarming Mr. DePape.
Police officers arrived to find Mr. DePape and Mr. Pelosi standing in the foyer, hammers in each hand. The next incident was captured on footage from the officer’s body-worn camera: Mr. DePape managed to wrest control of the hammer and then slammed it into Mr. Pelosi’s head, leaving him lying on the ground as blood pooled around him.
Mr. Pelosi, who suffered two skull fractures and spent six days in hospital, recounted the traumatic events on the witness stand during each trial. Saying the attack was “very traumatic for my family,” she explained how she is still in pain and undergoing physical therapy. “I was just trying to clear my mind,” he told jurors in the federal case.
At his sentencing hearing in the federal case, Mr. DePape apologized for his crimes and said he suffered a mental decline. “I had to leave the house when I found out Nancy Pelosi wasn’t there,” he told the judge. “I will never do that kind of violence again.”
James Dobbins contributed reports from San Francisco.
