Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is asking the court for a “very long” sentence for the man who attacked her husband in their home over a year ago, and Paul Pelosi says he is still suffering suffer from dizziness, headaches, balance problems, nerve pain and walking problems. after being hit with a hammer by David DePape.
Paul Pelosi revealed his ongoing health problems in a letter to a federal judge on Friday condemnation of DePape, who was convicted last November of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer in October 2022.
“I walk slowly and have trouble with my balance. Almost every day I get headaches that turn into migraines unless something is done quickly,” Paul Pelosi wrote. “I have to sleep during the day and cannot tolerate bright lights or loud noises for long periods of time.”
“For months it was very difficult to sleep alone in my home because I kept remembering the defendant breaking into my home,” Paul Pelosi said, continuing: “The defendant severely damaged the nerves in my left hand. My forehand was 'degloved'. Exposing damaged nerves and blood vessels. Surgeries and treatments have largely 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 Speaker of the House of Representatives asked for a “very long” sentence for DePape in her own letter to the court. She said the attack “[f]caused me 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 the punishment' in my absence with a near-fatal attack with a hammer,” the old wrote congressman from California.
She also said she and her husband never talked about the attack.
“Paul and I did not discuss the events of that terrible night,” Nancy Pelosi wrote. “Paul does not want to revisit it, and the doctors' advice is that discussing the brutal attack would only renew his trauma.”
In a separate letter to the court, her chief of staff, Terri McCullough, referred to the unrest in the speaker's office that arose in the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters chanted, “Where's Nancy?”
“We couldn't imagine that anything worse could happen in our world,” McCullough wrote. “Yet I did so because of this defendant's actions. “Where's Nancy?” he asked. After Mr. Pelosi's brutal attack in October 2022, we knew the Speaker and her family were not safe in their own home.”
The Ministry of Justice is demanding a 40-year prison sentence against Depape. Depape, 44, was tried late last year for attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. Jurors convicted him on both counts.
DePape's early morning burglary of the Pelosi home resulted in both federal and state charges. A second trial in state court will begin in the coming weeks.
During the day Tearful testimony in his federal trial, DePape admitted that he broke into the Pelosis' San Francisco home with the intention of taking the speaker hostage and “breaking her kneecaps” if she lied to him. He also acknowledged hitting Paul Pelosi with a hammer after police showed up, and said his plan to end what he viewed as government corruption was unraveling.
San Francisco Supreme Court
The attack on Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, was captured on police body camera footage just 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 invalidate the charges against him.
Scott MacFarlane
