The man accused of bludgeoning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer in late October will be sent to trial on felony charges, a judge ruled Wednesday afternoon.
The ruling came after a preliminary hearing where prosecutors presented portions of their case against David DePape in the Oct. 28 attack. The suspect also planned to target Hunter Biden, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and actor Tom Hanks as part of a wide-ranging suicide mission, according to court testimony Wednesday from a San Francisco police investigator.
The new allegations surrounding DePape were unveiled in gripping fashion through 911 tapes, body-camera footage and an interrogation recorded after the incident. Viewed together, the evidence offered the clearest window yet into an attack that shook the nation ahead of the November midterm elections and further stoked concerns of politically motivated violence.
Judge Stephen M. Murphy ruled after the morning presentation that there is enough evidence to send DePape to trial on the state charges of attempted murder, false imprisonment and a slew of other felony counts. DePape will next appear in court on Dec. 28.
Paul Pelosi, 82, underwent surgery to repair multiple skull fractures and was hospitalized for nearly a week after the attack.
The hearing revealed several new details about the middle-of-the-night break-in at the Pelosis' Pacific Heights neighborhood on Oct. 28, as well as DePape’s alleged plans for uncovering what he believed to be rampant illegal behavior on the part of Democrats.
DePape told a San Francisco police investigator that he never expected to survive his mission — repeatedly stating that he expected his mission to end in gunfire by police, and that he was “ready for that,” testimony aired Wednesday showed.
The suspect repeatedly told San Francisco police Lt. Carla Hurley — then a police sergeant — that he had no plans to surrender and that he was fueled by anger over lies by the Democratic Party, according to the recordings.
In describing his thought process as he stood in the Pelosi home’s foyer and cops entered the house, DePape told police that “he (Paul Pelosi) thinks that I’ll just surrender, and I didn’t come here to surrender.”
In an interview with Hurley at a San Francisco hospital after the attack, DePape railed against Democrats, repeatedly mentioning former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton while making reference to “an endless (expletive) crime spree.”
“They go from one crime to another crime to another crime to another crime,” DePape told Hurley in the recorded interview. “And it’s like the whole (expletive) four years. It’s unacceptable.”
Authorities suspect DePape broke into the Pelosi household in a failed bid to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House and the second person in line for the presidency. Calling his quest a “suicide mission,” DePape told investigators that he planned to break Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps and wheel her before Congress to “show other members of Congress there were consequences to actions,” according to court documents.
Instead, he found her husband, Paul Pelosi, asleep in the couple’s bedroom — leading to a tense encounter, with both men grappling over a hammer in the house’s dimly lit foyer, according to an indictment delivered by a federal grand jury last week.
Court records have already shown how Paul Pelosi called 911 and alerted authorities before abruptly ending the call as his attacker stood nearby, telling dispatchers that “he wants me to get the hell off the phone.”
As part of his failed bid to kidnap one of the nation’s most powerful politicians, DePape told police that Paul Pelosi “pushed me into a corner” by calling for help during the early-morning attack, according to an interview played by prosecutors during the hearing.
DePape described in detail holding Paul Pelosi in his house against his will in the recordings. DePape also could be heard discussing the attack itself, which ended when he allegedly struck Pelosi in the head with a hammer as the two struggled over the tool.
Police body-camera footage shown to the judge Wednesday depicted a scene that played out in mere seconds. An officer first expressed confusion at discovering DePape and Paul Pelosi both gripping the same hammer in the foyer of Pelosi’s house. The attack proceeded in mere seconds, after one officer ordered DePape to drop the hammer, said Officer Kyle Cagney during the hearing.
Rather than give up, DePape swung the tool at Paul Pelosi, the officer testified — hitting Pelosi in the head and knocking him to the floor unconscious, authorities said in the indictment.
During the interview with police played in court Wednesday, DePape made references to other people that he planned to target and said that Paul Pelosi’s attempts to call police did not sit well with him. He said he wanted to kidnap Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, Hurley testified. And DePape also said he wanted to drive south to speak to Bay Area native and Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks.
“I will not be stopped here,” DePape told investigators while recalling the break-in.
After the attack, detectives found a sleeping bag and two backpacks in the backyard of the Pelosi residence, Hurley testified
One backpack contained several of DePape’s IDs, including a California driver’s license and DePape’s birth certificate. It also held a Canadian passport, a Social Security card, an ATM card, at least one bank envelope and a credit card in DePape’s name, she said.
Investigators also found in the stash of backpacks a Nintendo Switch video game system, multiple battery packs and charging cords, Hurley testified.
One backpack contained a second hammer, she said. And DePape appeared to have stashed food in those backpacks as well, including beef jerky and multiple bottles of vitamin supplements, court testimony revealed.
Police body-camera footage was also played in court Wednesday, though a monitor set up for the judge’s viewing did not allow members of the gallery to see much of the video.
DePape also faces multiple federal charges in the Oct. 28 ordeal. In a recent hearing, federal prosecutors said they have “substantial” evidence against DePape in that case.
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