Man Who Attacked Paul Pelosi With Hammer Apologizes At Resentencing Hearing

The man convicted of attacking the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with a hammer apologized to his victim during a resentencing hearing Tuesday.

“I’m sorry for what I did, especially what I did to Paul Pelosi,” David DePape reportedly told the court in San Francisco. “I should have never hurt him.”

A year after his October 2022 attack, DePape was found guilty of assault on an immediate family member of a federal official and of attempted kidnapping of a federal official.

On the night he broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home, DePape, armed with a hammer and cable ties, had plans to kidnap and violently interrogate Nancy Pelosi, according to his own testimony. Instead, he confronted then-82-year-old Paul Pelosi and was captured on video swinging his hammer at the venture capitalist when officers arrived at the scene.

DePape, who’s said that he was influenced by far-right conspiracy theories to carry out the attempted kidnapping, was sentenced to 30 years in prison earlier this month. But U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley had forgotten to give DePape an opportunity to address the court before his sentencing, leading to this week’s hearing.

The judge on Tuesday apologized to DePape, as well as the victims and attorneys in the case, for the oversight.

“I want to apologize for you having to be here this morning,” she said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “It’s completely on me.”

DePape was resentenced to 30 years in prison, with credit for approximately 19 months that he has already served in custody.