A federal decide reopened the sentencing of a person who assaulted the husband of former U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying the attacker was not given the chance to talk earlier than he was sentenced final week.
The choice got here Saturday — a day after Decide Jacqueline Scott Corley sentenced David DePape to 30 years in jail for his violent 2022 tried kidnapping of Nancy Pelosi, throughout which he used a hammer to bludgeon her husband, Paul.
At sentencing hearings in federal courtroom, judges usually allow defendants a chance to talk earlier than the jurist renders judgment. Federal felony process requires the courtroom to “deal with the defendant personally as a way to allow the defendant to talk or current any info to mitigate the sentence.”
Whereas the reopened sentencing will probably have little change on Scott Corley’s sentencing choice, she admitted her error in forgetting to grant DePape a talking alternative in a short Saturday submitting.
“It was the Court docket’s duty to personally ask Mr. DePape if he needed to talk. Because the Court docket didn’t accomplish that, it dedicated clear error,” she wrote.
Scott Corley set a brand new sentencing date for Might 28.
DePape confronted a complete of fifty years in jail — 30 years for the assault cost and 20 years for the tried kidnapping — however Scott Corley ordered the sentences to run concurrently for a complete of 30 years.
The 44-year-old assailant traveled from his dwelling in Richmond to the Pelosis’ home in Pacific Heights on Oct. 28, 2022. He deliberate to carry the speaker of the Home hostage and to interrogate her concerning unfounded claims fueled by far-right conspiracy theories.
He broke into the home however discovered solely Paul Pelosi, as Nancy Pelosi was in Washington.
DePape and Pelosi grappled over a hammer, and DePape bludgeoned the 82-year-old house owner with the weapon.
