Tag: federal trial

Jury reaches verdict in trial of Judge Hannah Dugan
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A jury on Thursday found Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan guilty of a federal felony charge that she obstructed or impeded a proceeding before a U.S. department or agency, while acquitting her on a misdemeanor count tied to concealing an individual from discovery and arrest. Her defense team released this statement shortly after the verdict was read: “While we are disappointed in today’s outcome, the failure of the prosecution to secure convictions on both counts demonstrates the opportunity we have to clear Judge Dugan’s name and show she did nothing wrong in this matter. We have planned for this potential outcome and our defense of Judge Dugan is just beginning. This trial required considerable resources to prepare for and public support for Judge Dugan’s defense fund is critical as we prepare for the next phase of this defense.” The judge did not set a sentencing date. The defense plans to fight the conviction. The maximum penalty would be five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.Watch: Defense attorney Steve Biskupic’s post-verdict reaction:On the prosecution side, interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel asked that people keep politics out of the case and the verdict. He said this was not the government trying to make an example of Dugan, but was instead a serious matter they felt necessary to pursue.Watch: Interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel delivers remarks after Dugan verdictProsecutors filed the charges after an April 2025 courthouse encounter involving federal agents and a defendant, in Dugan’s court on a state criminal charge, a man they were seeking to arrest. The verdict followed a week of testimony and evidence centered on what jurors heard and saw from April 18, when federal agents came to the sixth floor of the Milwaukee County Courthouse with a warrant to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz.In opening statements Monday, prosecutors told jurors that Dugan “knew what she did was wrong” and argued arrests in the courthouse are “standard and routine.”The defense challenged the interpretation of events and questioned witnesses about courthouse practices, confusion over the courthouse policy for interactions with federal immigration officials. What prosecutors allegedJurors were shown surveillance video and listened to audio from inside Dugan’s courtroom, with prosecutors walking through the sequence in detail.Prosecutors pointed jurors to:Hallway surveillance video showing Dugan confronting federal agents outside her courtroom; there was no audio on the hallway video.Audio from inside the courtroom, played alongside a transcript for jurors to follow, including a moment in which Dugan’s clerk is heard saying, “We have 5 ICE guys in the hallway.”Prosecutors’ interpretation of courtroom audio, including that Dugan called Flores-Ruiz’s case out of order and told his attorney to take him out and return for a rescheduled date, which prosecutors argued was intended to get him out of the area.Evidence and testimony jurors heardThe government’s first witness included FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Baker, who testified about his actions at the courthouse that morning and what he observed. Baker described Dugan’s tone during the hallway encounter, saying, “anger would be the best way to describe it.”Jurors also heard testimony and saw exhibits related to communications among judges about how to handle interactions with federal immigration officials in the courthouse, according to the notes.WATCH FBI agents testify about courthouse confusion during immigration arrestDefense caseAfter the prosecution rested on Wednesday, the defense began calling witnesses Thursday morning. The first defense witness was Milwaukee County Judge Katie Kegel, and jurors were shown an email she sent to fellow judges that was displayed in court and included in jurors’ binders. The final witness for the defense was former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a lifelong friend who described her as an “extremely honest” person who will tell you exactly how she feels. Background of the caseThe case stems from the April 18 courthouse encounter in which agents from ICE and other federal agencies arrived outside Dugan’s courtroom with a warrant for Flores-Ruiz’s arrest.Prosecutors alleged Dugan directed agents away from the arrest location and that Flores-Ruiz later left through a restricted area before being arrested outside.Flores-Ruiz’s underlying state case involved a domestic violence allegation. In opening statements, prosecutors referenced the charge he faced that day: battery — domestic abuse — infliction of physical pain or injury. Flores-Ruiz has since been deported.
A jury on Thursday found Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan guilty of a federal felony charge that she obstructed or impeded a proceeding before a U.S. department or agency, while acquitting her on a misdemeanor count tied to concealing an individual from discovery and arrest.

Her defense team released this statement shortly after the verdict was read:

“While we are disappointed in today’s outcome, the failure of the prosecution to secure convictions on both counts demonstrates the opportunity we have to clear Judge Dugan’s name and show she did nothing wrong in this matter. We have planned for this potential outcome and our defense of Judge Dugan is just beginning. This trial required considerable resources to prepare for and public support for Judge Dugan’s defense fund is critical as we prepare for the next phase of this defense.”

Adela Tesnow
Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan reacts after hearing a guilty guilty in her federal trial

The judge did not set a sentencing date. The defense plans to fight the conviction. The maximum penalty would be five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

Watch: Defense attorney Steve Biskupic’s post-verdict reaction:

On the prosecution side, interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel asked that people keep politics out of the case and the verdict. He said this was not the government trying to make an example of Dugan, but was instead a serious matter they felt necessary to pursue.

Watch: Interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel delivers remarks after Dugan verdict

Prosecutors filed the charges after an April 2025 courthouse encounter involving federal agents and a defendant, in Dugan’s court on a state criminal charge, a man they were seeking to arrest.

The verdict followed a week of testimony and evidence centered on what jurors heard and saw from April 18, when federal agents came to the sixth floor of the Milwaukee County Courthouse with a warrant to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz.

In opening statements Monday, prosecutors told jurors that Dugan “knew what she did was wrong” and argued arrests in the courthouse are “standard and routine.”

The defense challenged the interpretation of events and questioned witnesses about courthouse practices, confusion over the courthouse policy for interactions with federal immigration officials.

What prosecutors alleged

Jurors were shown surveillance video and listened to audio from inside Dugan’s courtroom, with prosecutors walking through the sequence in detail.

Prosecutors pointed jurors to:
- Hallway surveillance video showing Dugan confronting federal agents outside her courtroom; there was no audio on the hallway video.
- Audio from inside the courtroom, played alongside a transcript for jurors to follow, including a moment in which Dugan’s clerk is heard saying, “We have 5 ICE guys in the hallway.”
- Prosecutors’ interpretation of courtroom audio, including that Dugan called Flores-Ruiz’s case out of order and told his attorney to take him out and return for a rescheduled date, which prosecutors argued was intended to get him out of the area.
Evidence and testimony jurors heard

The government’s first witness included FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Baker, who testified about his actions at the courthouse that morning and what he observed.

Baker described Dugan’s tone during the hallway encounter, saying, “anger would be the best way to describe it.”

Jurors also heard testimony and saw exhibits related to communications among judges about how to handle interactions with federal immigration officials in the courthouse, according to the notes.

WATCH FBI agents testify about courthouse confusion during immigration arrest

Defense case

After the prosecution rested on Wednesday, the defense began calling witnesses Thursday morning.

The first defense witness was Milwaukee County Judge Katie Kegel, and jurors were shown an email she sent to fellow judges that was displayed in court and included in jurors’ binders.

The final witness for the defense was former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a lifelong friend who described her as an “extremely honest” person who will tell you exactly how she feels.

Background of the case

The case stems from the April 18 courthouse encounter in which agents from ICE and other federal agencies arrived outside Dugan’s courtroom with a warrant for Flores-Ruiz’s arrest.

Prosecutors alleged Dugan directed agents away from the arrest location and that Flores-Ruiz later left through a restricted area before being arrested outside.

Flores-Ruiz’s underlying state case involved a domestic violence allegation. In opening statements, prosecutors referenced the charge he faced that day: battery — domestic abuse — infliction of physical pain or injury. Flores-Ruiz has since been deported.
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December 18, 2025
Paul Pelosi testifies that he knew he was in ‘serious danger’ before hammer attack

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SAN FRANCISCO —

Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, offered chilling details in federal court on Monday of the night he was allegedly attacked and bludgeoned with a hammer by a man now on trial for attempted kidnapping and assault.

Paul Pelosi, 83, took the stand on the second day of the federal trial against David DePape, who faces federal charges for attempting to kidnap the Democratic congresswoman and assaulting her husband with the intent to interfere with the lawmaker’s official duties or retaliate against her.

DePape, 43, is accused of traveling from his Richmond residence to the Pelosis’ San Francisco home the early morning of Oct. 28, 2022, in search of the lawmaker, allegedly with plans to hold her hostage and question her regarding far-right conspiracy theories involving the Democratic Party and a list of politicians and public figures.

Instead of finding Nancy Pelosi, who was in Washington at the time, DePape wandered through the quiet Pacific Heights home before stumbling upon a bedroom with her husband sleeping inside.

“The door opened and a very large man came in, with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other hand,” Paul Pelosi testified. “And he said ‘Where’s Nancy?’ And I think that’s what woke me up.”

Until then, it was a typical evening.

Paul Pelosi told jurors he’d gone to dinner that night in San Francisco. He went to sleep as usual between 11:30 p.m. and midnight, bringing a cup of ice water he took to bed each evening. He didn’t set the alarm system, which the family only used when they were out of town, because it’s sensitive and will go off easily with people in the home.

A couple of hours later, Paul Pelosi woke up in “tremendous shock” after realizing that “someone had broken into the house.”

“And looking at him and looking at the hammer and the ties, I recognized that I was in serious danger,” he said. “And so I tried to stay as calm as possible.”

Paul Pelosi said he told DePape that his wife was in Washington.

“Well then we’re going to have to wait for her,” Paul Pelosi said DePape responded.

DePape told Paul Pelosi that his wife was the “leader of the pack,” and “he had to take her out,” he testified. Because she wasn’t home, Paul Pelosi said DePape told him he had to tie him up and wait for her.

“He had these cords in his hand. I assume that’s what he was going to use,” he said.

Paul Pelosi said he first tried to move toward the elevator outside the couple’s bedroom, which had a telephone inside. But DePape caught on, Paul Pelosi said, so instead he moved toward his bathroom where he charged his cellphone each night.

He called 911, but didn’t feel like he could be honest with the dispatcher about the situation. DePape still had the hammer, and was demanding that Paul Pelosi tell the dispatcher that he was just a friend of the family.

“And looking at him and looking at the hammer and the ties, I recognized that I was in serious danger,” Paul Pelosi, shown above, told the jury in the federal trial against David DePape. “And so I tried to stay as calm as possible.”

(Noah Berger / Associated Press)

According to his court testimony, Paul Pelosi hung up the 911 call, and tried to reason with the intruder. DePape said he was tired, and wanted to tie Paul Pelosi up so that he could get some sleep. Paul Pelosi suggested the two men walk downstairs, where DePape left his two backpacks and other belongings. Paul Pelosi said he knew that if the police came, they needed to get downstairs where it would be easier to arrest the suspect.

“He said, ‘Oh, the police are going to be here, it’s over for me, I’m going to have to take you out,’ things like that,” Paul Pelosi said DePape told him. “I said ‘No, they’re probably not going to come. They’re probably not going to come.’

“And then the police were at the door.”

Police body camera footage shows Paul Pelosi — holding his cup of water — opening the door with DePape standing next to him. The two were fighting for control of the hammer, which officers ordered them to drop.

DePape instead grabbed it from Paul Pelosi and swung it at his head multiple times, fracturing his skull and causing injuries to his arm and hand. Photo and video evidence shown to the jury on Thursday depict Paul Pelosi lying in a pool of his blood, struggling to breathe as police tackled DePape.

He was hospitalized for more than a week at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital for a fractured skill and other injuries. He received a dozen stitches on the back of his right arm, he said, and his badly damaged left hand was also treated. Paul Pelosi told the jurors that the plastic surgeon was able to reconstruct his hand and avoid doing skin grafts, while his head injury recovery included regaining his balance and “getting my walking back.”

Paul Pelosi recounted the attack as his daughter, Christine Pelosi, sat in the far back corner of the courtroom and while DePape watched from beside his defense attorneys.

Despite the graphic testimony and evidence, the trial is considered far from an easy assault case. Prosecutors bear the burden of proving that the attack was due to Nancy Pelosi’s role as House Speaker, and that DePape intended to kidnap her after breaking into the lawmaker’s home.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Laura Vartain Horn told the federal court jury in her opening arguments on Thursday that DePape had gone to the couple’s home that early morning with the idea to hold Nancy Pelosi “hostage,” “break her kneecaps” and “teach her a lesson.”

“When the defendant broke into the speaker’s home, he had a plan,” Horn told the jury of 12 men and three women. “It was a violent plan.”

Prosecutors attempted to bolster their argument on Monday when questioning FBI Special Agent Stephanie Minor, who has handled the case over the last year. Minor walked the jurors through a series of videos showing DePape traveling from the East Bay to the Pelosis’ home, and described a list of his internet searches in the days leading up to the attack.

Minor explained how DePape had extensively researched the Pelosi family, along with others on his so-called target list, and paid for a service that provided their emails and home addresses. The prosecution also played a recording of a phone call DePape made to a reporter earlier this year, in which he seemingly apologizes for not being successful in his mission.

“I have an important message for everyone in America. You’re welcome,” he said. “I would also like to apologize…I’m so sorry I didn’t get more of them.”

But federal public defenders Jodi Linker and Angela Chuang have disputed the argument that DePape intended to kidnap Nancy Pelosi or attack Paul Pelosi because of his wife’s official position in Congress.

Instead, they claim that the Pelosi home was the first stop in a broader scheme to end corruption and other offenses he believed were being committed by the Democratic Party and public officials and celebrities.

DePape’s plan was to use Nancy Pelosi to put an end to his QAnon-like theory that Democratic politicians and public officials were abusing and trafficking children, the jury was told.

“This is not a who done it,” Linker told the jury in her opening argument. It was a “why done it,” she said, “and the why matters.”

The assault has inspired additional conspiracies and prompted political attacks against the Pelosi family, including from former President Trump.

“And [Nancy Pelosi’s] against building a wall at our border, even though she has a wall around her house,” Trump said to cheers and hollering during a speech at the California Republican Party’s convention in September. “Which obviously didn’t do a very good job.”

Along with the federal criminal case, DePape faces separate state charges including assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and threats to a public official and their family.

Paul Pelosi said he’s mostly recovered from his injuries, but that he still suffers from lightheadedness and headaches.

“There are still lumps on my head. If I run my fingers, I can still feel dents and lumps,” he said. “They’re not as sensitive to the touch as they were.”

The recovery process was “very painful,” he said. He said that he had not read news related to the incident, nor had he listened to the tapes or watched the videos.

“I’ve tried to put it out of my mind,” he said, taking periodic pauses to maintain his composure.

“I’ve made the best effort I possibly can to not relive this.”

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Hannah Wiley

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November 13, 2023
Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack believes conspiracies but didn’t try to kidnap House speaker, attorney says

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SAN FRANCISCO —

Defense attorneys for the man accused of bludgeoning the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a hammer last year told jurors Thursday they acknowledge their client committed a crime and harbored “bizarre” far-right conspiracy theories, but they disputed federal charges that he attempted to kidnap the congresswoman and assaulted Paul Pelosi in connection with her official duties.

In a lengthy opening argument, federal public defender Jodi Linker said David DePape, 43, broke into the Pelosis’ home during the early morning of Oct. 28, 2022, as part of a broader plan to end corruption, human trafficking, child abuse and other offenses he believed were being committed by the upper echelons of the Democratic Party, including Nancy Pelosi and elected officials such as Rep. Adam Schiff and Gov. Gavin Newsom, and public figures such as actor Tom Hanks and billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

“Members of the jury, many of us do not believe any of that. We think it’s bogus,” Linker said. “You may think it is all lies, harmful lies that are in fact destroying the country. … But the evidence in this trial will show that Mr. DePape believes these things, he believes them with every ounce of his being. He believes them firmly and completely and it is these beliefs, wholly unrelated to Nancy Pelosi’s official duties to Congress, that propelled him to act that night.”

DePape’s ideas, whether true or not, Linker explained to the jury of three women and 12 men, prompted his plan to “stop the wealthy elite, to protect children and end the lies and reveal the truth.”

“And in this court, on these two charges, these beliefs matter,” she added, because the government is required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that DePape acted in response to Nancy Pelosi’s official duties.

“That’s definitely not why he did it,” Linker said.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Laura Vartain Horn told the federal court jury that DePape spent months gathering information about the Pelosi family on the internet. He traveled from the East Bay to the couple’s San Francisco home with plans to hold Nancy Pelosi “hostage,” “break her kneecaps” and “teach her a lesson,” she said in her opening arguments.

“When the defendant broke into the speaker’s home, he had a plan,” Horn said, using the large wood-handled hammer, kept in a plastic bag, to reinforce her argument. “It was a violent plan.”

Not able to find Nancy Pelosi that morning, Horn said, DePape “unleashed his violence on the next closest thing to the speaker.”

DePape faces up to a combined 50 years in prison for attempted kidnapping of the former speaker and assaulting Paul Pelosi with the intent to interfere with the lawmaker’s official duties or retaliate against her. He also faces state charges including assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and threats to a public official and their family.

DePape was in court Thursday and had swapped his orange jail jumpsuit for a blue sweater and a collared shirt, his hair tied back in his signature low ponytail. His ex-partner, Gypsy Taub, and their two sons looked on from the gallery, while the Pelosis’ daughter, Christine Pelosi, sat at the rear of the courtroom.

Much of the trial will focus on an unnamed woman listed as Target 1, who was described in court as an anthropologist and queer studies professor at the University of Michigan. DePape had planned to use Nancy Pelosi to “lure” Target 1, Linker said, whose research on feminism, pornography and gender roles he believed was at the “root of harm to children.”

“The evidence will show he had a much larger plan and the stop at the Pelosis’ was only the first stop in that plan,” Linker said.

What “thwarted” his greater plot, she added, was when police arrived at the home. Paul Pelosi had called 911 after DePape broke into the home, and the two were fighting for control of the hammer when officers knocked on the front door.

Police ordered them to drop the weapon, but DePape forced it from Pelosi and struck the 82-year-old man on the head, according to several officer body-camera videos shown in court.

“In that moment, he reacted impulsively and yanked the hammer out of Mr. Pelosi’s hand and he hit him,” Linker said, not because he had a greater plan of assault, but “because [Paul Pelosi] was the one standing there in that moment.”

Prosecutors called as witnesses three officers who had responded to the 911 call, along with Lt. Carla Hurley, who interviewed DePape from his hospital bed while he was being treated for a dislocated shoulder and other injuries. Hurley described portions of the interview, in which DePape wanders into conspiracies about Hillary Clinton, the Watergate scandal and Democrats stealing the election from former President Trump, as “so jarring, so disturbing,” which prompted her to ask about his mental health history.

Despite public questions over DePape’s mental capacity, his attorneys are not expected to raise that argument during trial.

At one point in the interview, DePape said his plan was to question Nancy Pelosi. If she admitted to his conspiracies, he’d let her go. If she didn’t, he’d break her kneecaps, and she’d have to wheel herself into Congress, where other lawmakers could see as an example the consequences of being the “most evil” people on the planet.

“I am not of unwell mind. I knew exactly what I was doing,” he said.

Certain police body camera footage, along with the 911 call, surveillance video of DePape breaking into the home and the police interview after his arrest, was already widely publicized ahead of trial and replayed for the jury on Thursday.

Jurors also saw two photographs of Paul Pelosi lying on his foyer’s wooden floor in a pool of his own blood. Video footage caught what prosecutors referred to as Pelosi’s “agonal breathing,” or what one officer described as the body trying to push oxygen to the brain in a last-ditch effort to stay alive.

In another police body camera video taken shortly after the crime, DePape seems to offer an admission.

“I’m sick of the insane f— level of lies coming out of Washington, D.C.,” he told officers. “I didn’t really want to hurt him, but you know, this was a suicide mission, and you know, with the s— that’s going on in f—Washington, D.C., I’m not just going to stand here and do nothing.

“If you guys need evidence, the evidence is there,” he said. “There is no denying what I did. Cops watched me do it.”

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Hannah Wiley

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November 9, 2023