Nancy Pelosi asks for “very long” sentence for David DePape, who attacked husband Paul Pelosi with hammer

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is asking the court for a “very long” sentence for the man who attacked her husband in their home more than a year ago, and Paul Pelosi says he still suffers from dizziness, headaches, balance problems, nerve pain and mobility difficulties. after being hit by David DePape with a hammer.

Paul Pelosi revealed his ongoing health problems in a letter to a federal judge on Friday before the verdict of DePape, who was convicted last November of attacking Paul Pelosi with a gavel in October 2022.

“I walk slowly and have difficulty balancing. Almost every day I have headaches that turn into migraines unless they are treated quickly,” wrote Paul Pelosi. “I need to sleep during the day and cannot tolerate bright lights or loud noises for long periods of time.”

“For months, sleeping alone in my home was very difficult because I always remembered the defendant breaking into my home,” said Paul Pelosi, continuing: “The defendant severely damaged the nerves in my left hand. exposing raw nerves and blood vessels. The surgeries and treatments have mostly healed the skin, but underneath I still feel pinched nerves in my left hand. This makes basic tasks such as using buttons, cutlery and simple tools more difficult.

The former House Speaker, in her own letter to the court, requested a “very long” sentence for DePape. She said the attack “[f]filled me with great fear and deep pain.”

“A violent man broke into our home, threatened to kidnap me and – in his own words – made my husband Paul ‘take punishment’ in my absence with a near-fatal attack with a hammer,” the former California congresswoman wrote.

She also said that she and her husband never talked about the attack.

“Paul and I have not discussed the events of that horrible night,” wrote Nancy Pelosi. “Paul does not want to revisit the matter, and doctors’ advice is that discussing the vicious attack would only renew his trauma.”

In a separate letter to the court, his chief of staff, Terri McCullough, referred to the anxiety in the House speaker’s office that arose in the wake of the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, when protesters shouted: “Where Is Nancy?”

“We could not imagine that anything worse could happen in our world,” McCullough wrote. “Yet I did it, because of this defendant’s actions. ‘Where’s Nancy?’ he asked. After Mr. Pelosi’s brutal attack in October 2022, we knew that the Speaker of the House and her family were not safe in their own homes.

The Department of Justice is seeking a 40-year prison sentence for Depape. Depape, 44, was tried late last year for attempted kidnapping of a federal employee and assault on an immediate family member of a federal employee. The jurors convicted him in both aspects.

DePape morning raid on Pelosi’s house resulted in federal and state charges. A second trial in state court will begin in the coming weeks.

During tearful testimony at his federal trial, DePape admitted that he broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home with the intention of holding the speaker hostage and “breaking her knees” if she lied to him. He also acknowledged beating Paul Pelosi with a hammer after police showed up, saying his plan to end what he saw as government corruption was falling apart.

The attack on Paul Pelosi, who was 82 years old at the time, was captured on police camera video days before the midterm elections and sent shockwaves through the political world.

Defense attorneys argued that DePape was motivated by his political beliefs rather than a desire to interfere with the speaker’s official duties as a member of Congress, which would render the charges against him invalid.