Man who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband found guilty of kidnapping – and could face life in prison
A man who brutally attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer and was jailed for 30 years, has also been convicted of kidnapping and could spend the rest of his life in prison.
David DePape was sentenced last month by a federal judge to 30 years in federal prison after he was found guilty of the 2022 attack against Paul Pelosi – husband of the leading Democrat politician.
On Friday, a jury in San Francisco also found DePape guilty of first-degree burglary, false imprisonment of an elder, threatening a family member of a public official, dissuading a witness to the charges and aggravated kidnapping.
DePape was previously convicted of assaulting a federal official’s family member and attempting to kidnap a federal official.
The attack on Mr Pelosi was captured on police body camera video just days before the 2022 midterm elections and shocked US politics.
The then 82-year-old suffered two head wounds including a skull fracture that had to be mended with plates and screws.
Paul Pelosi. Pic: AP
David DePape. Pic: AP
Democratic former house speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pic: AP
In a statement, Mrs Pelosi’s office said: “Speaker Pelosi and her family remain in awe of their pop’s bravery, which shone through again on the witness stand in this trial just as it did when he saved his own life on the night of the attack.
“For nearly 20 gruelling months, Mr Pelosi has demonstrated extraordinary courage and fortitude every day of his recovery.”
DePape’s public defender, Adam Lipson, said he planned to appeal the verdict.
He described the prosecutor’s decision to file a kidnapping for ransom charge during the trial as “vindictive”.
Mr Lipson said: “It’s really unfortunate that it was charged this way. It was sort of a textbook vindictive prosecution.
“As soon as they found that the attempted murder charge was going to be dismissed, they added this charge.”
Mr Lipson had earlier successfully argued that the state trial represented double jeopardy following the federal conviction and even though the courts are different, the cases stem from the same act.
San Francisco superior court judge Harry Dorfman agreed and dismissed the state charges of attempted murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon.
Another judge upheld the decision on appeal.
Mr Lipson said the state verdict meant that after DePape served his 30 years in federal prison, he would then be transferred to a Californian prison “to spend the rest of his life” there.
In his closing arguments, he told the jury that the prosecution did not prove that DePape kidnapped Mr Pelosi with intent “to exact from another person money or something valuable”, which is integral to the charge.
However, assistant district attorney Phoebe Maffei pointed out that DePape told a detective, and testified in federal court, that he planned to get a video of Mrs Pelosi confessing to what he claimed were crimes – and post it on the internet.
Ms Maffei said: “There is inherent value in a video of the speaker of the House [of Representatives] confessing to crimes in her own home,”.
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Earlier this week, Ms Maffei outlined details of the attack where DePape broke into the politician’s home, entered their bedroom, “held him hostage with a hammer, threatened him, threatened his wife and attempted to kill him.”
Also during proceedings the jury was told that DePape lived a lonely, isolated life and had gone “down the rabbit hole of propaganda and conspiracy theories”.
During the week, the judge also expelled DePape’s former partner from the public gallery, accusing her of trying to tamper with the jury.
Gypsy Taub was handing out pieces of paper outside the courtroom with the address of a conspiracy theory website on them.
Cards were also found in a women’s bathroom nearby with the website’s address scrawled on the wall.
The mayor of Los Angeles has announced that a curfew will be in force overnight, as officials attempt to “stop the vandalism and stop the looting”.
Karen Bass says the restrictions will be in force in downtown areas of the city from 8pm to 6am local time (4am to 2pm UK time) – and will likely be repeated in the coming days.
She confirmed that a local emergency had been declared as “we reached a tipping point”, with 23 businesses looted on Monday night.
Ms Bass said “graffiti is everywhere”, with “significant damage” to properties as a result of the protests.
Workers try to remove graffiti after a protest over immigration raids. ICE Pic: AP/Damian Dovarganes
Members of law enforcement stand guard in downtown LA. Pic: Reuters/Leah Millis
A protester marches past businesses being boarded up. Pic: Reuters/Leah Millis
Jim McDonnell, the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, described the curfew as a “necessary measure to protect lives” after “unlawful and dangerous behaviour” had been escalating in the last few days.
On Tuesday alone, 197 arrests were made by the force, and he warned anyone violating the curfew without a valid reason would be detained.
Residents, people who are homeless, those travelling to and from work, credited media as well as public safety and emergency personnel, will be exempt from the curfew, according to Mr McDonnell.
The curfew covers a one square mile (2.59 square kilometre) section of downtown LA that includes the area where protests have happened since Friday. The city of Los Angeles encompasses roughly 500 square miles (2,295 square kilometres).
Workers board up a store in Santa Ana. Pic: AP/Jae C. Hong
California National Guard soldiers stand at a federal agency building. Pic: AP
Protesters are detained by law enforcement near the federal building in downtown LA. Pic: AP/Eric Thayer
The protests are in response to raids carried out by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).
US President Donald Trump has activated 4,000 National Guard troops – the federal reserve force – to protect ICE officers carrying out raids as well as federal buildings in LA, despite objections by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who called the deployments unnecessary, illegal and politically motivated.
Mr Trump also sent 700 Marines, who are expected to start operating in the LA area on Wednesday, according to the US Northern Command.
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The Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Santa are boarded up. Pic: Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register via AP
National Guard troops are lined up to protect a federal building in downtown LA. Pic: AP/Eric Thayer
State officials said Mr Trump’s response was an extreme overreaction to mostly peaceful demonstrations, with California senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla saying the domestic mobilisation of active-duty military personnel should only happen “during the most extreme circumstances, and these are not them”.
Mr Trump defended his decision in a speech to soldiers at the Army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on Tuesday, saying his administration would “liberate Los Angeles”.
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Trump: ‘We will liberate Los Angeles’
“Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness,” Mr Trump said.
“What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags.”
A protester is arrested by law enforcement officers in downtown LA. Pic: AP/Eric Thayer
California Highway Patrol officers clash with protesters in LA. Pic: AP/Eric Thayer
Gavin Newsom launched a blistering response in an address on Tuesday evening, saying the deployment of the National Guard without consulting Californian officials was a “brazen abuse of power by a sitting president”.
He said it “enflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers and even our National Guard at risk”.
“That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder – and the president, he did it on purpose,” Mr Newsom said.
The governor accused Mr Trump of choosing escalation and “theatrics over public safety”, as the situation was “winding down” before the president deployed the federal reserve force.
Mr Newsom added: “When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation.
“This is about all of us, this is about you. California may be first, but it clearly won’t end here; other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.”
A man holds a Mexican flag, which has become synonymous with solidarity for migrants targeted in the raids. Pic: AP/Damian Dovarganes
A protester holds up a placard while marching through downtown LA. Pic: Reuters/Leah Millis
People protest against the ongoing immigration raids in Washington, D.C. Pic: AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Homeland Security said on Monday that ICE had arrested 2,000 immigration offenders per day recently, which significantly exceeds the 311 daily average in the fiscal year 2024 under former president Joe Biden.
The protests over the immigration raids have started to spread across the US, with demonstrations in cities like Seattle, Austin, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
The pop of flash bangs and the drawing of rubber bullet launchers by police sent protesters scattering down streets in downtown LA during a fourth day of demonstrations against Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
Dozens of National Guard – America’s reserve force – carrying shields and long guns, created a perimeter around a federal building as protesters angrily shouted at them.
“National Guard out of LA,” they chanted, followed by a chorus of “shame, shame, shame”.
The arrival of National Guard troops on the streets, with a total of 4,000 now deployed by President Trump against the wishes of California governor Gavin Newsom, seems to have escalated tensions.
Another 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines are heading to Los Angeles on orders from US President Donald Trump
First and second-generation immigrants tell Sky News they have to ‘defend’ LA
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass described her city as a “test case” for Trump usurping the authority of local governments.
The news that 700 marines were also being mobilised, ready to deploy, was viewed by Democratic politicians as not just a gross overreaction to the situation but a cynical political ploy by the White House to stoke trouble.
Trump says they are needed to restore law and order.
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Crowd control explosions were being deployed from the rooftops of the federal buildings towards protesters in a plaza below in a bid to disperse the crowd.
Many of those gathering are first and second-generation immigrants, mostly from Central and South America.
They are furious about the raids that took place last week. Dozens of immigrants were rounded up in LA’s garment district, an area packed with clothing wholesalers.
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Downtown LA is a scene of pandemonium and lawlessness
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Pandemonium and lawlessness on streets of LA
Bryanna Ordonez, 17, was protesting with friends. Her dad was among the 44 people arrested in the raids. He’d lived here – illegally – for more than 10 years.
“My father got deported on 6 June,” she said, holding back tears. “I’m here protesting for him and two of my uncles that were deported.
“Our parents worked so hard to get us here today just to be taken from us because they wanted us to have a better life. It’s so unfair.”
Bryanna Ordonez, 17, tells Sky News her dad was among 44 people arrested in Friday’s raids
Giovanni Garcia is from South Central LA. His mother emigrated from Mexico 26 years ago, but she only received her Green Card last year.
“Everyone says LA is an immigrant city, and it is,” says Giovanni. “You go to Chinese restaurants, they have Hispanic workers in the back.
“You know, you go to the clothing companies, they have Hispanics working. Like, this is our city, and we have to stand here and defend it.”
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As dusk fell, the crowds thinned on the streets. A remaining hardcore of demonstrators were backed into a corner of downtown LA known as Little Tokyo.
As night fell, an hours-long standoff between police and protesters took place next to a pagoda and with the backdrop of a giant mural of LA Dodgers baseball star Shohei Ohtani, before, eventually, a number of them were arrested.
LA is a city known for sporting prowess, multiculturalism and a long history of resistance movements – the immigration protests of 2025 now among them.
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