The man accused of bludgeoning former House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband with a hammer in Oct. 2022 was driven by a bizarre, misguided plan based on the right-wing conspiracy theories with which hed become obsessed in the months leading up to the brutal attack, according to his own defense lawyer.
The federal trial against David DePape opened on Thursday, with public defender Jodi Linker saying in her opening salvo that, though the evidence against her client was clear, the prosecutions version of events was not the whole story.
What matters is what brought David to that housewhat David believed and what he intended, she said. This is not a whodunit. But what the government fails to acknowledge is the whydunit, and the why matters in this case.
DePape, 43, is facing two federal felonies: attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official and assault on an immediate family member of the official in retaliation for performance of her job. If convicted, he faces life in prison, according to the Associated Press. The trial is expected to last roughly a week.
He has yet to go on trial for the state charges separately filed against him by the San Francisco District Attorneys Office, which include attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and elder abuse.
DePape has pleaded guilty to all charges.
Court documents show that DePape broke into the Pelosis San Francisco mansion around 2 a.m. and confronted Paul, demanding, Wheres Nancy? Wheres Nancy? while holding the hammer and zip ties. After Paul managed to slip into a bathroom and dial 911, two police officers knocked on the door to find both men on the other side. After one of the responding officers asked them to drop the hammer, body camera footage showed, DePape snatched it back and swung it at Paul, hitting him in the head.
Part of the footage was played in court on Thursday, leaving some jurors visibly troubled, according to the Post.
Linkler began his opening statements to the jury with a bizarre and troubling line: Tom Hanks, the actor, raped a 13-year-old girl.
He then proceeded to list off a series of incredible conspiracy theories ripped straight from the fringe right-wing websites he allegedly frequented.
Members of the jury, many of us do not believe any of that, she finally conceded. You may think it is all lies. But the evidence in this trial will show that Mr. DePape believes all these these things with every ounce of his being.
Linker told the jury on Thursday that DePapes attack on Pelosis then-82-year-old husband, Paul, had nothing to do with the then-Speaker or her duties. Instead, she argued, the why of all of this had to do with a broader notion that he was taking action to stop a larger political conspiracy he really, truly believed: That a corrupt ruling elite made up of figures like Hunter Biden, George Soros, and even Tom Hanks were actively harming children and subverting American democracy.
He did something wrong, something horrible, Linker said, according to The Washington Post, but he did not commit these two federal charges.
DePape, a Canadian citizen in the United States illegally, immersed himself in online conspiracies, questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election and ranting ceaselessly and hatefully on an online blog about perceived enemies, including the media, aliens, Democrats, Jews, and Black people.
Prosecutors countered that DePape had indeed been trying to retaliate against Pelosi for her work in the House. The evidence in this case is going show that when the defendant used this hammer to break into the Pelosis home he intended to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Vartain Horn told the jury, holding aloft the weapon in a clear plastic bag.
DePapes violent plan, as Vartain Horn laid it out, included holding Pelosi hostage, breaking her kneecaps, and teaching her a lesson. According to a criminal complaint filed days after the Oct. 28 attack,
DePape told investigators he viewed Nancy as the leader of the pack of lies told by the Democratic Party and that breaking her knees would show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions.