Life imprisonment for attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband

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Lerato Khumalo

Shortly before the 2022 congressional elections, an attacker attacked the husband of top US politician Nancy Pelosi. Now the perpetrator’s long prison sentence is getting even longer.

The hammer attack on the husband of top US politician Nancy Pelosi is being punished more harshly than initially thought. The attacker was sentenced to life in prison without parole in a second federal criminal trial in San Francisco, California, US media unanimously reported. In the first federal trial, a judge sentenced him to 30 years in prison in mid-May.

Pelosi, now 84 years old, was attacked and seriously injured in the couple’s home in San Francisco at the end of 2022 – a few days before the US congressional elections. He required surgery after the attack for a fractured skull and serious injuries to his right arm and hands. The perpetrator was targeting the then Chairwoman of the House of Representatives herself, but did not find her during the attack. He was arrested at the scene.

Pelosi’s family said the life sentence provided a measure of justice and was “a message to others that political violence against elected officials or their family members will not be tolerated, trivialized or tolerated.”

The act sparked horror in the USA at the time and a debate about politically motivated violence. Shortly after the crime, US media revealed that the attacker was interested in various conspiracy theories and lies from former US President Donald Trump about alleged fraud in the 2020 presidential election on his online profiles.

Police said at the time that the perpetrator had planned to take the then chairwoman of the US House of Representatives hostage and “break her kneecaps.” He wanted to force the Democrat into a wheelchair to show other members of Congress that their “actions have consequences.”