A federal judge has reopened sentencing for a man who attacked former US President Nancy Pelosi’s husband, saying the attacker was not given a chance to speak before to be sentenced last week.
The ruling came Saturday — a day after Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley sentenced David DePape to 30 years in prison for his violent 2022 attempted kidnapping of Nancy Pelosi, during which he used a hammer to bludgeon her husband , Paul.
At sentencing hearings in federal court, judges typically give defendants a chance to speak before the jurist renders judgment. Federal criminal procedure requires the court to “address the defendant personally to allow him to speak or present any information that may mitigate the sentence.”
Although the reopening of the sentence will likely have little change on Scott Corley’s decision, she admitted her mistake in forgetting to grant DePape the opportunity to speak in a brief filing Saturday.
“It was the responsibility of the Court to personally ask Mr. DePape if he wished to speak. Since the Court did not do so, it clearly erred,” she wrote.
Scott Corley set a new sentencing date of May 28.
DePape faced a total of 50 years in prison – 30 years for the assault charge and 20 years for the attempted kidnapping – but Scott Corley ordered the sentences to be stacked for a total of 30 years.
The 44-year-old attacker traveled from his Richmond home to the Pelosis’ home in Pacific Heights on October 28, 2022. He planned to take the House speaker hostage and question her about unfounded allegations fueled by the extreme right. conspiracy theories.
He broke into the house but found only Paul Pelosi, because Nancy Pelosi was in Washington.
DePape and Pelosi struggled with a hammer and DePape bludgeoned the 82-year-old homeowner with the weapon.
California Daily Newspapers
