Federal jury convicts man who planned to torture Pelosi, broke her husband’s skull
By 
I want to start with a presponse to a couple of comments that invariably show up in posts about civil and criminal trials.
- Nope. That is not how diminished capacity or insanity defenses work in real life.
- Nuh-uh. That is not how ineffective assistance of counsel works in real life.
Thank you.
Approximately one year after David DePape broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home to kidnap and torture her and fractured her husband’s skull with a hammer, a jury convicted him of both charges:
- One count of assault upon an immediate family member of a United States official with the intent to impede, intimidate, or interfere with the official while engaged in the performance of official duties or with intent retaliate against the official on account of the performance of official duties.
- One count of attempted kidnapping of a United States official on account of the performance of official duties.
DePape also faces state charges for a number of crimes, including attempted murder, residential burglary, false imprisonment and threatening the life or serious bodily harm to a public official.
I assume that the “If there’s conspiracy bullshit, you must acquit” defense for the federal trial was the best his attorneys could do without breaking the law themselves.
DePape’s defense was a mystery leading into the trial, in part because of overwhelming evidence against him, captured on video and audio recordings that had already reached the public. He also admitted his plans to kidnap Nancy Pelosi to a San Francisco police lieutenant shortly after his arrest. He later called a KTVU reporter from jail and apologized for failing in his plans and “not getting more” of his targets.
[…]
Linker and her defense team argued that federal charges were inappropriate because those charges required DePape to have been motivated by Pelosi’s “official duties” in Congress. DePape said on the witness stand that he was instead motivated by extremist conspiracy theories that also led him to target Tom Hanks, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, and gender theory academic Gayle Rubin, among other well-known figures.
And he only broke Paul Pelosi skull when police interfered with his plans to kidnap and torture Rep. Nancy Pelosi, two other elected officials, an actor and an academic.
“And he only struck Paul Pelosi in a quick moment of despair because the police arrived and his larger plan was thwarted.”
The only thing they left out was constant, loud coughing and shuffling of papers during DePape’s testimony so the jury couldn’t hear their client utter nightmare fuel like this.
DePape testified that his plan was to get Nancy Pelosi to admit that she had been lying to the American people. “If she lied, I would break her kneecaps,” he said. “The choice is on her.”
Not that it would have done much good. I assume the jury also received the statement he gave to SFPD after his arrest. The initial federal complaint against DePape includes more details.
DEPAPE stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her. If Nancy were to tell DEPAPE the “truth,” he would let her go, and if she “lied,” he was going to break “her kneecaps.” DEPAPE was certain that Nancy would not have told the “truth.” In the course of the interview, DEPAPE articulated he viewed Nancy as the “leader of the pack” of lies told by the Democratic Party. DEPAPE also later explained that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions. DEPAPE also explained generally that he wanted to use Nancy to lure another individual to DEPAPE.
Tell a lie, act as though the lie is true. If people disagree with your lies, hurt them until they say they agree so you’ll stop hurting them. Blame them for what you did to them. It’s the white supremacist way.
People who post off-topic comments take the last slice of Thanksgiving pie without asking.
