The man convicted in the 2022 hammer attack on Paul Pelosi will appear in court Tuesday, as the sentencing hearing in his case is being reopened due to a court error.
A federal judge sentenced David DePape to 30 years after being found guilty of assaulting the husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi in their San Francisco home. DePape was convicted of assault and attempted kidnapping charges.
During the hearing on May 17, the judge overseeing the trial made an error in sentencing when she did not give DePape the opportunity to make a statement before sentencing.
Prosecutors noticed the mistake that afternoon and notified the court. DePape’s lawyers promptly filed an appeal.
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley wrote, “no party brought to the court’s attention” that it had not allowed Mr. DePape to speak, a requirement of federal criminal procedures. “As the court did not do so, it committed clear error,” she wrote.
At Tuesday’s hearing, DePape would have the option to speak.
The error is unlikely to alter his sentence, which consists of 30 years for the assault charge and 20 years for the attempted kidnapping charge being run concurrently. DePape was given credit for time served for the 18 months he has been in custody.
Tim Fang is a digital producer at CBS Bay Area. A Bay Area native, Tim has been a part of the CBS Bay Area newsroom for two decades and joined the digital staff in 2006.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen M. Murphy ruled there was no reason to keep the footage secret, especially after prosecutors played it in open court during a preliminary hearing last month, according to Thomas R. Burke, a San Francisco-based lawyer who represented CBS News, The Associated Press and a host of other news agencies in their attempt to access the evidence.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office handed over the evidence to Murphy on Wednesday following a court hearing. Murphy asked the court clerk’s office to distribute it to the media, which could happen as soon as Thursday.
Paul Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi’s husband, was asleep at the couple’s San Francisco home on Oct. 28 when someone broke in and beat him with a hammer. Prosecutors have charged 42-year-old David DePape in connection with the attack.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi, top center, during an event hosting the Golden State Warriors in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 17, 2023.
Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images
During a preliminary hearing last month, prosecutors played portions of Paul Pelosi’s 911 call plus footage from Capitol police surveillance cameras, body cameras worn by the two police officers who arrived at the house, and video from DePape’s interview with police.
But when news organizations asked for copies of that evidence, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office refused to release it. The attack, which occurred just days before the 2022 midterm elections, prompted intense speculation from the public that fueled the spread of false information.
The district attorney’s office argued releasing the footage publicly would only enable people to manipulate it in their quest to spread false information.
But the news agencies argued it was vital for prosecutors to publicly share their evidence that could debunk any false information swirling on the internet about the attack.
“You don’t eliminate the public right of access just because of concerns about conspiracy theories,” Burke said.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office did not respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The news agencies who sought the release of the footage also included The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Press Democrat, CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC and KQED, an NPR-member radio station in San Francisco.
DePape pleaded not guilty last month to six charges, including attempted murder. Police have said DePape told them there was “evil in Washington” and he wanted to harm Nancy Pelosi because she was second in line to the presidency. His case is pending.
Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives after the midterm elections. Republicans elected California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy as the new speaker. Pelosi will remain in Congress, but she stepped down as Democratic leader. She was replaced by Hakeem Jeffries from New York.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom partly blamed Fox News for fueling the vitriol against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul, who was attacked by an intruder with a hammer at the couple’s San Francisco home last week.
“I’ve seen the dehumanization of Nancy Pelosi,” Newsom told CBS News’ chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett in an exclusive interview on Saturday. “I don’t think anyone’s been dehumanized like she has consistently. Now I watched this one guy, Jesse Watters or something on Fox News. What he’s been saying about Paul Pelosi the last five, six months, mocking him consistently. Don’t tell me that’s not aiding and abetting all this. Of course it is.”
“They’re sowing the seeds, creating a culture and a climate like this,” Newsom said. “I mean, look online. Look at the sewage that is online that they amplify on these networks and in social media to dehumanize people like Nancy Pelosi and other political leaders.”
CBS News reached out to Fox News and Watters on Monday and had not heard back by 5 p.m. ET. Watters said on his show on Monday night that Newsom “thinks if you mock a Democrat, it puts him on a target list.”
“If anything, Gavin Newsom has done more to aid and abet this attack on Paul Pelosi than anybody,” Watters said, alleging Newsom’s policies allow people like the alleged attacker to be on the streets
David Wayne DePape, the suspect in the attack, had a list of people he wanted to target, law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation confirmed to CBS News. He allegedly broke into the couple’s home around 2 a.m. on Friday, shouting “Where is Nancy?” The Democratic leader was in Washington, D.C., at the time of the attack, according to Capitol Police.
Paul Pelosi underwent surgery on Friday for his injuries.
Newsom implied that he has also been on the receiving end of threats and that they’ve become more serious.
“I know what over the last three years has come in my inbox,” he said. “Trust me, you don’t, because I’m not sharing it. I don’t even share it with my wife. I got four kids. So I know a little bit about this. I mean, it wasn’t just a recall against me. It was surround sound in every way, shape or form.”
“Look, there’s always folks in the extreme and you roll your eyes,” he continued. “This is — something is different here. There’s, you know, the mind is being stretched. People feel free to shove again.”
Watch more of Major Garrett’s exclusive interview with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on the “CBS Evening News” on Tuesday.
