Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, testified on Monday in the trial of a man who allegedly bludgeoned him with a hammer in his own home, The Associated Press reported.

David DePape is accused of barging into Paul Pelosi’s home on Oct. 22, 2022, so that he could allegedly kidnap Nancy Pelosi and use her to unravel what he believed was a massive network of government conspiracy. When DePape could not find Nancy, he allegedly brought Paul downstairs and began beating him with a hammer, giving Paul a skull fracture and serious injuries to his arms and legs, according to the AP.

“The door opened, and a very large man came in with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other, and he said, ‘Where’s Nancy?’ as I think that woke me up,” Pelosi testified, according to NBC News. “I’m asleep, and he bursts in the door, and that woke me up.”

 

The Pelosi home was equipped with a security system with motion detectors, but Paul said he never turned it on because his motion set off the alarm, according to the AP. Paul did not hear DePape allegedly breaking into the house through a window, although he managed to call 911 from his cellphone while hiding in the bathroom before DePape came upstairs, NBC reported.

DePape allegedly found Paul while he was calling 911 and smacked the phone out of his hand before ranting about Nancy and her connections to government conspiracies, according to the AP. DePape took Paul downstairs and said he would tie him up while they waited for Nancy together.

“It was a tremendous sense of shock to recognize that somebody had broken into the house and looking at him and looking at the hammer and the ties, I recognized that I was in serious danger, so I tried to stay as calm as possible,” Pelosi told jurors, according to the AP.

Officers showed up to the scene shortly after the pair came downstairs, prompting Paul to reach for the hammer that DePape was holding, the AP reported. Bodycam footage from responding officers allegedly shows DePape then hitting Pelosi with a hammer multiple times before the police could stop him.

DePape has pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges including attempted murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, elder abuse and burglary, according to the AP. If convicted, he could face a sentence of life in prison.

Lillian Tweten on November 14, 2023