DOJ says Paul Pelosi attacker should get 40-year prison term due to 'terrorist' intent

On Friday, the Department of Justice recommended David DePape, the man convicted of kidnapping former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul, be sentenced to 40 years in prison for the attack. 

In the court filings, the DOJ argued the court should add an enhancement charge for an intent to "promote a federal crime of terrorism" on top of the US Probation Office's recommendation for 25 years. 

DePape was convicted last November on charges of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault of an immediate family member of a federal official in a San Fransico court after he broke into the home of Nancy and Paul Pelosi in 2022 and assaulted Paul with a hammer. Nancy was in Washington DC at the time. 

After his arrest, DePape told detectives that he planned to break Nancy's knees. He said, "She would have got a broken knee, and she would have realized that her endless f**king lies and corruption had a price."

The DOJ said in its sentencing recommendations that DePape's conviction of the attempted kidnapping of then-Speaker Pelosi "was clearly intended to promote a federal crime of terrorism, that is, attempting to kidnap a Member of Congress 'to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct.'"

"The jury’s conviction on both Counts One and Two prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was motivated by Speaker Emerita Pelosi’s performance of her official duties," the DOJ argued. "He assaulted Mr. Pelosi intending to impede, intimidate, or interfere with Speaker Emerita Pelosi’s official duties, or with intent to retaliate against Speaker Emerita Pelosi on account of the performance of her official duties."

During the trial, DePape's attorneys attempted to argue their client wasn't intentionally targeting Pelosi's house, but was attempting "to take down a cabal of so-called liberal elites that he saw as a threat to American liberty."