Democracy Dies in Darkness

Judge will reopen sentencing hearing for Paul Pelosi’s attacker

Prosecutors had asked the judge, who on Friday sentenced David DePape to 30 years in prison, for the move so the attacker could be allowed to speak in court.

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Updated May 18, 2024 at 5:57 p.m. EDT|Published May 18, 2024 at 1:17 p.m. EDT
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), then speaker of the House, with her husband, Paul Pelosi, in December 2022. Paul Pelosi was attacked with a hammer in their San Francisco home in October 2022. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
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The federal judge who sentenced the man convicted of violently attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband said Saturday that she would reopen the sentencing portion of the case later this month, acknowledging that she had not properly given him a chance to speak in court.

Prosecutors had asked the judge on Friday to reopen the hearing, soon after David DePape, 44, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for assaulting Paul Pelosi. DePape was convicted last year of two federal counts stemming from the October 2022 attack, during which he broke into the Pelosi home and battered Paul Pelosi, then 82, with a hammer.