After testimony began in the state trial, Mr. Dorfman threw out three of the most serious charges: attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse. He sided with the defense lawyers, who argued that those charges would amount to double jeopardy because of the federal case. The judge left intact five other charges, including false imprisonment, felony burglary and aggravated kidnapping.
In the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2022, days before the midterm elections, Mr. DePape broke into the Pelosi residence in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, carrying a large hammer and zip ties. In police interviews and from the witness stand, he said he had been on a mission to kidnap Ms. Pelosi, then the speaker of the House and second in line to the presidency. Once he gained entry to the home, he called out repeatedly, “Where’s Nancy?”
Ms. Pelosi was in Washington, but her husband, Paul, who was 82 at the time, was asleep in the couple’s upstairs bedroom. Awakened by the intruder and terrified that his life was in jeopardy, Mr. Pelosi was able to surreptitiously call 911 from his bathroom without alarming Mr. DePape.
Police officers arrived to find Mr. DePape and Mr. Pelosi standing in the foyer, each with a hand on the hammer. What happened next was captured on footage from the officers’ body-worn cameras: Mr. DePape managed to wrest control of the hammer and then slammed it into Mr. Pelosi’s head, leaving him lying on the ground as blood pooled around him.
Mr. Pelosi, who suffered two skull fractures and spent six days in the hospital, recounted the traumatic events on the witness stand during each of the trials. Saying the attack had been “so traumatic for my family,” he described how he was still in pain and undergoing physical therapy. “I have just tried to put it out of my mind,” he told jurors in the federal case.
At his sentencing hearing in the federal case, Mr. DePape apologized for his crimes and said that he had been suffering a mental decline. “I should have left the house when I learned Nancy Pelosi wasn’t there,” he told the judge. “I will never do anything violent like that ever again.”
James Dobbins contributed reporting from San Francisco.