Federal prosecutors on Friday asked the judge who sentenced a man convicted of violently attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband to reopen the sentencing portion of the case, saying the attacker was not properly given a chance to speak in court.

David DePape

This request came soon after David DePape, 44, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for assaulting Paul Pelosi. DePape was convicted last year of two federal counts stemming from the October 2022 attack, during which he broke into the Pelosi home and battered Paul Pelosi, then 82, with a hammer.

Prosecutors filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday saying DePape should have been given an opportunity to allocate – 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.”

Prosecutors’ request focused on something known as allocution, which is when a defendant is given a chance to speak in court before being sentenced. 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 allocate when given the chance.

DePape’s defense attorneys did not immediately file a response to the prosecutors’ motion, though they submitted a notice of appeal in the case Friday. Prosecutors, in their filing on Friday asking the judge 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. A media representative for U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, who sentenced DePape, also did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

DePape has admitted he broke into the Pelosi home targeting 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, a federal judge nominated to the bench in 2022 by President Biden, 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 believed 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 Pelosi attack is still pending.