A sentencing error applied to the man convicted of attacking Paul Pelosi could potentially put his decades-long federal prison term in jeopardy.
The government’s case may have appeared straightforward, but its execution of basic procedures — or lack thereof — was anything but.
The judge that sentenced David DePape failed to allow the convicted home invader the chance to speak before sentencing him earlier this month, according to Politico.
In a court hearing last week, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley admitted that she made an error in sentencing procedures.
Due to that error, Corley has ordered that the sentencing hearing be redone next Tuesday.
DePape was sentenced to thirty years in prison in the case, according to the Department of Justice.
However, DePape’s attorneys are pushing back against giving the judge a mulligan to sentence their client again.
“The Court violated Mr. DePape’s rights when it sentenced him without inviting him to allocute,” DePape’s defense team argued in a Wednesday court filing.
The defense cited DePape’s ongoing California state trial in objecting to a repeat of the Canadian illegal immigrant’s sentencing hearing.
Do DePape’s lawyers have a point?
“[The court] cannot now cure that error by disrupting his state trial and asking Mr. DePape if he has anything to say,” DePape’s lawyers said.
DePape’s lawyers are arguing that their client has to be re-sentenced entirely, rather than merely repeating the hearing in which his chance to speak was denied.
DePape was convicted of attempting to kidnap a federal official and committing assault against an immediate family member of a public official last year.
The offender had sought former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during a home invasion in which he brutally beat 82-year-old Paul Pelosi with a hammer.
DePape has already appealed his federal conviction.
Federal prosecutors have asserted that Corley has an additional 14 days to provide DePape with an allocution or sentencing statement.
DePape’s additional charges in state court could land him a de facto life sentence if convicted.
He’s charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and threats, according to the Los Angeles Times.
