The federal judge who sentenced the man convicted of violently attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband said Saturday that she would reopen the sentencing portion of the case later this month, acknowledging that she had not properly given him a chance to speak in court.
In a motion filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, prosecutors said DePape should have been given an opportunity to allocute — or speak on his behalf — before being sentenced.
While DePape was not obligated to speak, “the record does not state that he had the opportunity to do so” as required, prosecutors wrote in their motion. The prosecutors asked for DePape’s sentencing to be reopened within two weeks “for the limited purpose of addressing the defendant to permit him to allocute, if he so chooses.”
While delivering such a statement is not mandatory, a survey of federal judges published in 2014 found that they said most defendants did choose to allocute when given the chance.
U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, who sentenced DePape on Friday, wrote in an order that no one had informed her during sentencing that she had not directly addressed DePape to give him a chance to speak.
Corley, who was nominated to the bench in 2022 by President Biden, wrote that “it was the Court’s responsibility to personally ask” DePape whether he wanted to speak. “As the Court did not do so, it committed clear error.”
Corley granted the prosecutors’ request and scheduled the reopened sentencing hearing for May 28 to allow DePape “to speak should he wish.” Defense attorneys have until Wednesday to file any response, Corley added.
DePape’s defense attorneys did not immediately file a response to prosecutors’ motion, though they submitted a notice of appeal Friday. Prosecutors, in their filing on Friday asking Corley to reopen sentencing, wrote that DePape’s attorneys had told them they opposed their motion.
Prosecutors and a defense attorney for DePape did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.
DePape has admitted he broke into the Pelosi home to target Nancy Pelosi. His attorneys have said DePape was enmeshed in conspiracy theories, writing in court papers that he held “a vague and inchoate sense of grievance” against Pelosi “based on unspecified ‘corruption’ (as well as certain more outlandish and conspiratorial beliefs).”
Prosecutors sought a 40-year sentence for DePape, arguing that his actions amounted to an act of terrorism; defense attorneys disputed that suggestion. In court filings, prosecutors said that “this case presents a moment to speak to others harboring ideologically motivated violent dreams and plans.”
Corley sentenced DePape on Friday to 30 years on one count and 20 years on another, with the two sentences to be served concurrently. She also sentenced him to five years of supervised release.
After DePape was sentenced, federal officials praised the punishment and said they thought it would send a message.
“This sentence is a warning: violence against those who serve the public and their families will not be tolerated,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
A state case against DePape stemming from the attack is pending.
