The conspiratorial assailant who attacked former Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer in October 2022, days before the US midterm elections, was found guilty by a San Francisco court on Thursday.
• Also read: Nancy Pelosi’s husband “was never my target,” his attacker assures
Jurors convicted David DePape of the violent attack in which he fractured Paul Pelosi’s skull and also found him guilty of attempting to kidnap Ms. Pelosi.
His sentence, which could be up to life in prison, must be handed down at a later date.
Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, was the third person in the American state and a regular target of conspiracy theories fueled by the far right.
The trial showed how Mr. DePape, a Canadian carpenter in an illegal situation and quite lonely, immersed himself in a world poisoned by disinformation before taking action.
He “intentionally targeted Nancy Pelosi because of her work and her role in our political system,” said prosecutor Helen Gilbert.
During the trial, the 43-year-old recounted, sometimes in tears, how he became an enthusiastic listener of right-wing extremist podcasts.
In particular, he shared publications on social networks in which he claimed that American elites were corrupt and engaged in pedophilia or that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Paul Pelosi “was never my target and I’m sorry he was hurt,” Mr. DePape assured. He said he attacked him when he realized his “plan had essentially been ruined.”
Nebulous plan
By breaking into the Pelosi couple’s home in San Francisco with rope, gloves and duct tape, he initially wanted to attack the parliamentarian who was in Washington that day.
He admitted to investigators that he planned to “break her kneecaps” if she didn’t admit to the Democratic camp’s “lies.”
But the separation of Ms. Pelosi was only the first step in a larger plan, the defendant admitted in court.
His nebulous plan included other targets, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the president’s son Hunter Biden and actor Tom Hanks.
His defense centered on a portrayal of a man consumed by what he saw as an anti-corruption crusade. A sentence that led Mr. DePape to plead not guilty.
Without denying the attack, his lawyers contended that he was primarily motivated by his conspiratorial beliefs and that he did not specifically target Ms. Pelosi in her capacity as a federal official – a key factor, prosecutors say, in both Attack as well as the attacks to understand planned kidnapping.
“Mr. “DePape did terrible things (…), he committed serious crimes that night,” admitted his lawyer Angela Chuang. “But he did not commit these two crimes,” she stressed, due to the official position of Ms. Pelosi.
Robbery filmed
During Mr. DePape’s intrusion, Paul Pelosi managed to alert the police, who intervened at the last minute. The attack was filmed on officers’ body-worn cameras.
Images that the octogenarian, who was in the hospital for almost a week and had to undergo surgery, does not want to see even more than a year after the events.
“It was so traumatic. I did everything in my power not to experience this again,” he told the jury.
The affair occurred just days before the midterm elections and highlighted the severity of the impact of disinformation in the election campaign and the deep divisions in America.
Despite the images, some members of the Republican Party mocked the attack or expressed some skepticism.
The boss of .
After this federal trial, David DePape now has to answer in California courts.