David DePape, the deranged freak who broke into Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and broke her elderly husband’s skull with a hammer, will never get out of prison.
DePape previously was sentenced to 30 years for the federal crime of attacking a federal official or family member. Now he’s also sentenced to life without parole on state charges of aggravated kidnapping, first-degree burglary, and others.
How can that be? Isn’t this double jeopardy? That’s what his defense argued. But not necessarily, if the charges don’t overlap. The California judge, in fact, dismissed some state charges as duplicative, but ruled others were not.
Although the federal and state crimes arose from the same incident and actions, they are separate crimes.
For example, let’s say Ku Klux Klansmen are prosecuted for kidnapping and murder in a state court, but acquitted by a sympathetic jury; then convicted in federal court of violating the victim’s civil rights. The Supreme Court has ruled that’s not double jeopardy, and that makes sense, because a criminal can be prosecuted under every law he violates. Generally speaking, federal and state criminal statutes protect different interests, and don’t duplicate each other.
Another example is an auto theft ring that steals cars, breaks them up in “chop shops,” and trafficks the parts across state lines. They can be prosecuted in state courts for auto theft, and in federal courts for interstate trafficking of stolen goods.
Addressing the judge before sentencing, DePape asserted he’s “psychic,” then went off on conspiracy theory-fueled rants (read story here). Maybe that was a ploy to convince the world he’s insane, but no one should buy that. He knew exactly what he was doing. This is a case of political violence, not much different from the attempts on Trump’s life, and people like these are too dangerous to be loose in society.
Society also needs to make a statement about political violence: If you try to single-handedly alter the course of history by attacking or killing political figures, that’s a crime against the entire country, and you won’t see the light of day again.
Case in point: Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Bobby Kennedy during the 1968 presidential campaign, has languished behind bars for 56 years, and is still having his parole vetoed by California’s governor. I agree with the governor; what Sirhan did was so monstrous, he should never get out.
Maybe he and DePape will get to be cellmates. Oh yeah, one more thing — Sirhan and DePape are both foreigners. If you’re looking for immigrant crime, here’s two cases for you.
Too late for tears: In the artist’s courtroom sketch below, David DePape weeps on the witness stand; the judge was unmoved
