The man who broke into the San Francisco home of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and violently attacked her husband was convicted of kidnapping in a separate incident on Friday.
According to the Associated Press, a jury found David DePape guilty of first-degree theft, false imprisonment of an elderly person, intimidating a family member of a public servant and tampering with a witness.
He was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Earlier this month, a San Francisco judge granted a request by DePape’s defense team to dismiss some of the state’s most serious charges, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse.
According to the Associated Press, DePape’s public defender, Adam Lipson, said he was disappointed with Friday’s verdict and that his client plans to appeal.
The lawyer argued that the new aggravated kidnapping charge was “vindictive” because it was handed down after prosecutors learned the attempted murder charge would be dropped.
Last month, in a separate federal trial, DePape was sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to kill Paul Pelosi in October 2022.
Lipson told The Associated Press that Friday’s sentence means DePape will serve 30 years in federal prison before being transferred to a California prison “for the rest of his life.”
Pelosi’s husband was hit repeatedly in the head with a hammer during the attack and barely survived. DePape had planned to kidnap Pelosi, who was then Speaker of the House of Representatives, while she was in Washington.
DePape faces a federal sentence in November 2023.
During the trial, DePape acknowledged that Paul Pelosi was never a target and said he regretted the hurt she caused. During his testimony, DePape said his political views had changed after reading online comments about former President Trump.
The defendant attributed his violent behaviour to a deterioration in his mental state, and said he had since rekindled contact with his family and had recovered mentally.
