In November 2023, a jury found the 44-year-old Dibab guilty of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on a member of a federal official’s immediate family. The prosecution had demanded a 40-year prison sentence.
The attack on Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, was captured on video by police surveillance cameras, just days before the 2022 midterm elections, and sent shockwaves through the political landscape.
Paul Pelosi suffered two head injuries, one of which was a skull fracture repaired with plates and screws that he would suffer from for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.
Before pronouncing the sentence, Angela Chuang, one of Debab’s lawyers, asked the judge to take into account the prison sentences being applied to those involved in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“The five most serious sentences for people convicted of seditious conspiracy, literally plotting to overthrow the government, range from 15 to 22 years,” Chuang said.
Judge Corley responded that the analogy to the events of January 6, 2021 does not adequately match the seriousness of the break-in at the private residence of an elected official.
He stressed that the attack on his home could have a chilling effect on people running for public office in the future, adding that he believes DePape still poses a danger to the community.
“I have seen no indication that, given the opportunity, he would not act on his unfounded beliefs again,” he said.
DePape admitted during the trial that he broke into Pelosi’s home on October 28, 2022 with the intent of holding the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress hostage and forcing her to confess to corruption.
“If she lies, I will break her knees,” he declared, referring to then-Democratic Party leader Nancy Pelosi, who was not home at the time.
The attacker also admitted to attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer when police showed up because his plan to end what he saw as government corruption was a failure.
At the trial, Debab, a Canadian citizen who moved to the United States more than 20 years ago, said he believed the media repeatedly lied about former President Donald Trump.
In sermons posted on a blog and in an online forum that were removed after his arrest, Dibab echoed the right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon, which claims that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles runs the US government.
Federal Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley indicated that Debab is being held by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Administration and will be deported after serving his sentence.
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