SAN FRANCISCO –
A person already in custody in final month’s attack on the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of assault and tried kidnapping.
The charges stemming from the Oct. 28 break-in on the Pelosis’ San Francisco residence are the identical as however supersede these in an earlier federal criticism that was filed on October 31.
The assault roiled the political world days earlier than the hotly contested midterm elections, the primary nationwide election because the Jan. 6, 2021, revolt on the Capitol. Threats in opposition to lawmakers and election officers have been at all-time highs and authorities have issued warning about rising extremism in the U.S.
David DePape, 42, of Richmond, a San Francisco suburb, was arrested on Oct. 28 contained in the Pelosi residence after San Francisco police responded to Paul Pelosi’s 911 name. He advised officers that he was sleeping when a person he had by no means seen earlier than entered his bed room on the lookout for Nancy Pelosi.
The officers discovered 82-year-old Paul Pelosi and DePape preventing over a hammer, however DePape gained management and hit Pelosi in the pinnacle, in accordance with the six–page indictment. It says officers later discovered {that a} glass door to the again porch had been damaged. They recovered a roll of tape, white rope, a second hammer, a pair of rubber and material gloves, and zip ties.
DePape’s public defender, Adam Lipson, didn’t instantly reply to phone and emailed messages. He final week entered a not responsible plea to associated state charges filed in opposition to DePape, a fringe activist drawn to conspiracy theories. A San Francisco choose ordered DePape held with out bail on the state charges of tried assassination, robbery and elder abuse, and he additionally has been positioned on a federal maintain in the case.
He was indicted on federal charges together with assault upon an instantaneous member of the family of a U.S. official with the intent to retaliate in opposition to the official on account of the efficiency of official duties. A second cost alleges he tried to kidnap a U.S. official on account of the efficiency of official duties.
The first cost carries a most sentence of 30 years in federal jail and the second a most 20 years in jail.