SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — Paul Pelosi took the stand Friday afternoon on the third day of David DePape’s state trial, sharing harrowing details of what he said happened after DePape broke into his home before fracturing his skull with a hammer in October 2022.
Pelosi said that on the night of the attack, he went to bed around 11:30 p.m. after watching some television. He was jarred awake about three hours later by DePape, who now faces attempted murder charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
“A little bit after 2:00, the door busted open and woke me up and there was a very large man with a hammer and some ties. I think he said 'are you Paul Pelosi?'" Pelosi testified. “I think I said, 'yes I am.' The next thing he said is ‘where’s Nancy?’”
Pelosi replied that Nancy was away in Washington D.C. and wouldn’t be back for several days.
"He said ‘she's second in line to be president, right?’ I said yes. He said, ‘we’re going to have to take them all out,” Pelosi testified.
Pelosi told Assistant District Attorney Sean Connolly that he feared for his life because DePape had the hammer and was much younger and larger than him.
Trying to stay calm, Pelosi said he tried to do his best to manage the situation and not anger DePape.
First, he made way for an elevator that was outside of his third-floor bedroom. The elevator had a phone where Pelosi could call for help, but DePape followed him to the elevator and blocked the door.
“He was basically on top of me,” Pelosi said. They walked back into the bedroom, where they conversed a bit.
“'They’re all corrupt, you got to take them out,' things like that,” was what DePape was saying, Pelosi said.
Connolly asked Pelosi if DePape seemed lucid.
“He seemed very intent on what he was gonna do,” Pelosi said.
On Thursday afternoon, San Francisco Police Department investigator Carla Hurley also testified that DePape was lucid when she interviewed him after the attack, testimony that may contradict the defense’s argument that DePape was suffering from a schizoid personality disorder that left him unable to control his thoughts, actions or emotions.
Pelosi eventually was able to call 911. Pelosi spoke vaguely to the 911 operator, trying to signal to the operator that he was in danger without angering DePape, who eventually ordered Pelosi to hang up the phone.
By then, DePape seemed tired, Pelosi said, and said that he wanted to tie him up and then go to sleep and wait for Nancy Pelosi to come home.
“He told me all of his stuff was downstairs … If you’re going to do that, let’s go downstairs. You can tie me up, get your stuff, and we can go to sleep downstairs,” Pelosi recalled telling DePape.
Pelosi believed the ground floor was his best chance for survival, however, which is why he told DePape they should go downstairs.
“I thought I had a chance of saving my life if I went downstairs,” Pelosi said. “Lord knows what would have happened if I was two floors up and the police arrived.”
DePape described a series of people he needed to “take out,” Pelosi said.
“When he said things like this I considered these very threatening and alarming,” Pelsoi said.
When police eventually arrived, Pelosi said he answered the door. While he was answering the door, DePape maneuvered behind his right shoulder with the hammer.
“I reached to put my hands on the hammer. I was afraid of what he was going to do. I was afraid he was going to hit me with the hammer,” Pelosi said. “I think I remember being struck. I woke up in an ambulance.”
Police body camera footage played during the first day of the trial showed DePape wrenching the hammer from Pelosi before striking him multiple times on the head with it. Pelosi fell into a pool of blood while police tackled and arrested DePape. Some members of the 12-person jury recoiled watching the footage of DePape striking Pelosi during opening statements.
Pelosi testified that he is still suffering symptoms related to the traumatic brain injury he suffered.
He said he had to relearn how to walk, and still goes to physical therapy to help him with his balance. Pelosi added he still gets a pain at the back of his neck that triggers dizzy spells, forcing him to sit or lie down.
Pelosi said his hair eventually grew back over the scar on his head. “Good genetics,” he joked, but the underlying symptoms remain.
“Here we are a year and a half later and I’m not fully recovered,” Pelosi said.
DePape's state trial continues next week. He has previously been sentenced to 30 years in prison in a federal case based on the same attack.
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