The man accused of attacking U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer at the couple’s San Francisco home was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday on attempted kidnapping and assault charges.
David Wayne DePape, who was born in Canada, had already faced the same charges under a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for Northern California.
State prosecutors have charged him with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, elder abuse, false imprisonment and threatening a public official.
DePape, 42, was arrested on Oct. 28 after he allegedly forced his way into the home, demanded to see Nancy Pelosi and then clubbed her husband, Paul, in the head with a hammer.
Paul Pelosi, 82, a real estate and venture capital executive, was released from hospital last week after he underwent surgery for his injuries.
Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who is second in the line of succession to the presidency, was in Washington at the time of the attack.
DePape grew up in Powell River, British Columbia, but relocated to California to be with a girlfriend, stepfather Gene DePape told The Associated Press last week. He said his stepson has three children with two women.
A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue, said DePape legally entered the United States in 2000 and later left the country and returned a few times, including entering in March 2008 at San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing.
Most Canadians are not required to obtain a visa to enter the U.S. as tourists and can stay for up to six months. The official said it was unclear why U.S. authorities allowed DePape to be admitted to the country after he overstayed his entry in 2000.
