(San Francisco) More than a year after having his skull fractured with a hammer, the husband of former Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi found himself facing his attacker Monday in court, forced to talk about the trauma of an attack that he tried to repel by all means.
“I have not discussed this incident with anyone,” said Paul Pelosi, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I didn’t watch the news and I encouraged my family not to either, because it was so traumatic. I did everything in my power not to go through that again. »
Visibly moved, the octogenarian delivered his testimony under the eye of David DePape, a follower of numerous far-right conspiracy theories, prosecuted for assault and attempted kidnapping of Mme Pelosi.
This ex-nudist activist entered the home of the Pelosi couple at the end of October 2022, a few days before the mid-term elections, equipped with rope, gloves and adhesive tape.
PHOTO MICHAEL SHORT, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, ARCHIVES VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
The accused, David DePape
Mr. Pelosi said the suspect wanted to attack his wife, who was then speaker of the House of Representatives and had already been targeted by protesters who forced their way into the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The intruder asked him “Where is Nancy?” “, he recalled, according to local television channel KRON4.
The attacker also said that Mme Pelosi, who was in Washington at the time, was the “leader of the pack” and that he “had to eliminate her,” her husband testified.
Knowing he was “in serious danger”, Mr. Pelosi tried to “remain as calm as possible” in the face of the suspect. He managed to call the police, who arrived just as the attacker hit him in the head with a hammer.
A year later, he still has not seen the images of this attack, captured by the agents’ body-worn camera, he said. After “waking up in a pool of blood,” he was hospitalized for nearly a week and required surgery.
David DePape has pleaded not guilty and faces a sentence of up to life in prison.
His defense recognizes the attack. On the other hand, she disputes the fact that he wanted to specifically attack Mme Pelosi or her husband as a federal official – a key factor for the prosecution.
Mr. DePape acted because he believed “with all his might” in various conspiracy theories according to which the American government is corrupt and the left-wing elite engages in pedophilia, his lawyer, Jodi Linker, argued Thursday.
Faced with investigators, the defendant assured that he wanted to attack other personalities, in particular the governor of California Gavin Newsom, the son of President Hunter Biden, and the actor Tom Hanks.
In addition to this federal trial, he must also be tried separately by the California courts.