David DePape explains what led to 2022 attack at Pelosi home in dramatic recording
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A dramatic recording from October 2022 of David DePape explaining why he broke into then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi's house played in a San Francisco courtroom Thursday afternoon.
In Department 19 of San Francisco Superior Court, 44-year-old DePape watched the prosecution build the case against him, piece by piece. They played a 59-minute interview with the defendant, recorded after he got caught on police bodycam video, hitting Paul Pelosi with a hammer.
Two hours later, DePape was at San Francisco General for a dislocated shoulder he suffered during his arrest. A police investigator interviews him while he lies cuffed to a gurney.
She starts by asking, "Do you know why you're in custody?"
DePape answers, "Absolutely." He grows increasingly angry and emotional, claiming that Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats committed crimes to steal the election from Donald Trump. Then, Depape says, "I was going to hold her hostage and get her to tell the truth. If she didn't tell the truth, I'd break her kneecaps."
Adam Gasner, a long-time San Francisco defense attorney who's been keeping up on the DePape trial, told us, "It's unclear whether he's going to testify, but if you hear his voice and you hear his ramblings or his rantings, the shaking, his voice, the oddity of the way he speaks, it gives real insight into what he was like at that time."
TIMELINE: Latest updates after Paul Pelosi attacked inside San Francisco home
Also on Thursday, the neurosurgeon who operated on Paul Pelosi showed a dramatic CAT scan that showed a dent in his head about the size of a silver dollar. He described how he had to drill around the fracture, lift it up, and reattach it with screws. Another officer who rode with Pelosi by ambulance to the hospital showed photos she took, blood covering his face and his hands that were crossed on his bare chest.
"I think it's really significant because it sympathizes and shows Paul Pelosi as a human being who is really seriously injured within his own home," Gasner said. "It's very visceral. The jury cannot overlook that."
The jury also saw a new body camera video taken by an officer who searched the house shortly after the attack, and who came upon those bags DePape left in the Pelosi's yard. The officer started to search the bags and then stopped. He worried about explosives, so he cleared the house and called for a bomb-sniffing dog. No explosives were found.
All this sets the stage for the testimony of Paul Pelosi, which we expect for Friday and of course, ABC7 will be covering. Late Thursday, attorneys for Depape said he was not feeling well. And the judge decided if the defendant has COVID-19, the trial will go dark for a few days.
