Voz media US Voz.us
Apple store Voz-media Play store Voz Media

Judge dismisses attempted murder charge and other state charges against Paul Pelosi's attacker

A federal court sentenced David DePape last month to 30 years in federal prison for attempting to attack Nancy Pelosi's husband with a hammer.

La ex presidenta de la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos, Nancy Pelosi, y su esposo Paul Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi (Michael Tran / AFP)

Published by
Rosana Rábago Sainz

A judge this Thursday dismissed the charge of attempted murder as well as other state accusations against Paul Pelosi's attacker. The new sentence comes a month after a federal court sentenced David DePape last month to 30 years in prison for attempting to attack Nancy Pelosi's husband with a hammer.

According to the San Francisco Public Defender's Office in a brief accessed by KQED, the magistrate decided to dismiss these charges based on the argument that they fall under double jeopardy and, therefore, would be run concurrently with any sentence already imposed in the state trial:

Once judgment was issued in Mr. DePape’s federal case, the government became barred under double jeopardy statutes from prosecuting him on any state charges arising out of the same acts for which he was convicted in federal court. Upon the federal court’s pronouncement of judgment last Friday, our office immediately filed a motion to dismiss the state case based on these statutes.

For this reason, the judge decided to dismiss the state charges of attempted murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. After serving time for these crimes, AP explained, authorities will most likely deport DePape back to Canada.

DePape assured that he intended to kidnap Nancy Pelosi for her words about "Russiagate"

The charges for false imprisonment, residential burglary, threatening a family member of a public official, attempting to influence a witness and aggravated kidnapping are maintained, since these charges were not part of the federal trial. DePape pleaded not guilty to all of these crimes.

However, during his testimony in the federal trial, the attacker assured that he intended to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, interrogate her and "break her kneecaps" if she did not admit the lies she told about "Russiagate," in reference to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

tracking