Following an error by a judge at the first sentencing for Paul Pelosi attacker David DePape, DePape was resentenced Tuesday morning in federal court to 30 years in prison.
The sentence did not change, however DePape was not given his legally allowed chance to speak prior to his May 17 sentencing, and U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Corley quickly decided to schedule another sentencing hearing.
This is all happening as DePape's trial in state court is getting underway, with opening arguments scheduled to begin tomorrow, Wednesday, May 29.
At this morning's hearing, DePape became emotional as he offered apology for the attack on Mr. Pelosi, as NBC Bay Area reports.
DePape, 44, reportedly spoke while reading from a piece of paper, said "I’m sorry for what I did," and went on to say that he should have left the Pelosis' home on that October night in 2022 after he learned that Nancy Pelosi, his intended target, was not home.
He also pledged, per the New York Times, "I will never do anything violent like that ever again."
DePape's tone was reportedly very different than the defiant one he showed in a jailhouse interview with KTVU a few months after the crime. In that January 2023 interview, DePape spoke of his patriotism — though it's been revealed that he was never a naturalized US citizen, and remains, legally, Canadian — and said of his conspiracy-inspired list of targets "I'm so sorry I didn't get more of them... I should have come better prepared."
Things have apparently changed in DePape's mental state as he's sat in jail the past year and a half.
Per NBC Bay Area, "DePape said that looking back on that time in his life, he was not doing well. Since then, he said, he has reconnected with his mother and other family members, which is helping him to move forward."
DePape's federal defense attorneys have referred to him as "neurodivergent," and they had filed an objection with the court to bringing DePape back for another sentencing hearing as he is about to face a second trial.
"Given Mr. DePape’s neurodiversity and mental-health issues … preparing him for any resentencing hearing requires significant time, which necessarily takes away from time to prepare for his state trial," the attorneys wrote, per NBC.
Neither federal prosecutors nor his defense attorneys raised the issue in court two weeks ago when the judge neglected to give DePape a chance to speak. It was only later, perhaps hoping to stave off an appeal, that prosecutors raised the issue in a filing with the judge.
Judge Corley resentenced DePape, as she did on the 17th, to 20 years for the count of attempted kidnapping of a federal official, and 30 years for the count of assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. With the sentences to be served concurrently, it amounts to the same 30-year sentence he originally received, with 19 months of credit for time served.
Corley reiterated that a harsh sentence was needed to deter others from attempting to hunt down government officials at their homes, saying, per NBC, "The message has to be out there that it’s absolutely unacceptable to our democracy."
DePape isn't likely to get out of jail before he is quite an old man, if even then, with another sentence likely to come in state court. It's not clear, given DePape's many admissions of guilt, why he didn't seek a plea bargain with prosecutors, but perhaps the sentence the SF DA's office was seeking was too harsh for his attorney to accept, and the jury trial is a nothing-to-lose situation.
In state court, DePape faces charges of attempted murder, false imprisonment, and elder abuse, among other charges.
Previously: Pelosi Attacker David DePape Gets 30 Years In Federal Case; State Trial Begins Next Week