Judge Reopens Sentencing Hearing for Man Who Attacked Pelosi’s HusbandThe court said it made a mistake by not asking David DePape if he had anything to say at his sentencing hearing. The parties will be back in court on May 28.
A judge reopened on Saturday a sentencing hearing for the intruder who bludgeoned Nancy Pelosi’s husband two years ago, admitting that the court had not given the defendant a chance to make a statement.
David DePape was sentenced on Friday to 30 years in federal prison for breaking into the San Francisco home of Ms. Pelosi, who was speaker of the House at the time, and attacking her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. But it was a mistake to not ask Mr. DePape beforehand if he had anything to say, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley acknowledged in a court order, setting a May 28 date to reopen the hearing to allow Mr. DePape to make a statement.
During Friday’s hearing, Judge Corley wrote, “no party brought to the court’s attention” that it had not allowed Mr. DePape to speak, a requirement of federal criminal procedures. “As the court did not do so, it committed clear error,” she wrote.
The error is unlikely to alter the sentence, but Mr. DePape will now have the opportunity to make a case for a more lenient one. The error was noticed by prosecutors on Friday afternoon, shortly after the sentence was read...
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/19/us/sentencing-hearing-pelosi-husband-attack-depape.html