The suspect in the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband pleaded not guilty to all state and federal charges on Wednesday.
At the arraignment, David DePape also waived his right to a trial within a 60-day window. He returns to court on February 23 to schedule his trial date.
Among the charges the alleged perpetrator faces are attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder, and threats to a public official’s family. DePape also pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges including accusations of aiming to abduct the House leader.
DePape first pleaded not guilty to the charges through his public defender during an initial arraignment in November a few days after the incident.
In November, DePape allegedly broke into the couple’s home in the early hours of the morning with a plan to take Nancy Pelosi hostage. He arrived with zip ties and intended to break the speaker’s kneecaps with a hammer if she refused to tell the “truth” about Democrats’ “lies.” Instead, he encountered Paul Pelosi home alone. DePape beat Pelosi’s head with the hammer, leaving the 82-year-old with a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hand.
“Mr. DePape will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and held accountable for his heinous crimes,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement on Wednesday, according to ABC News.
San Francisco Police Sergeant Carla Hurley testified earlier this month that DePape searched for Pelosi to capture specifically because of her political position. He allegedly screamed at Paul Pelosi, “Where’s Nancy??” and eventually bludgeoned him with the hammer.
When Hurley interviewed him on the day of the assault, DePape, a conspiracy theorist and drug addict with mental illness, according to his ex-girlfriend, told him he also wanted to target Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom, actor Tom Hanks, and Hunter Biden.