The jury will only have deliberated for half a day. The conspiratorial attacker who attacked the husband of former Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi with a hammer in October 2022, a few days before the US mid-term elections, was found guilty Thursday by a San Francisco court.
Jurors convicted David DePape of the violent attack, during which he fractured Paul Pelosi’s skull, and also found him guilty of attempting to kidnap Nancy Pelosi.
DePape will be sentenced later. He risks 30 years in prison for the assault and 20 years for the attempted kidnapping, maximum sentences which take into account that his action was committed against an elected official of the United States.
“Where’s Nancy?” »
This Canadian citizen, former nudist activist, entered the Pelosi home in San Francisco in October 2022, while the woman who was then the third person in the American state, presiding over the House of Representatives, was in Washington.
Equipped in particular with rope, pairs of gloves and adhesive tape, he came across her husband, Paul Pelosi, and asked: “Where is Nancy? »
Before being attacked, the octogenarian had managed to call the police emergency number. After his arrest, DePape explained to the police that he planned to “break the kneecaps” of the parliamentarian if she did not admit to the “lies” of the Democratic camp.
Among the conspiracy theories he shared on social networks, he notably claimed against all evidence that the American elections had been stolen. The suspect also explained to investigators that he was on a “suicide mission” and planned to attack “several prominent political figures”, as well as members of their families and a professor in the region, according to a document from the San Francisco prosecutor’s office.