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David DePape, the man convicted of attacking Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence was handed down on Tuesday (October 29) in a state trial following DePape's earlier federal conviction for the same attack.
DePape, a Canadian citizen living in the U.S., was found guilty of charges including aggravated kidnapping, first-degree burglary, and false imprisonment of an elder. The attack on Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, took place in his San Francisco home in October 2022. The incident was captured on police body-camera video and shocked the political world.
During the trial, DePape's defense attorneys argued for a new trial, citing his mental health and susceptibility to online propaganda. However, Judge Harry Dorfman dismissed these arguments, stating, "It’s my intention that Mr. DePape will never get out of prison; he can never be paroled."
DePape had previously been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for assaulting a federal official’s family member and attempting to kidnap a federal official. The punishment in the state trial will run concurrently with the federal sentence.
DePape's attorneys argued that the state trial amounted to double jeopardy following his federal conviction. However, the judge dismissed some of the state charges but kept others that were not covered by the federal case.