A California judge ordered this Wednesday that recordings of the attack suffered by Paul Pelosi, husband of the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, be allowed to be released at their San Francisco home in October, thus denying the request. of the Prosecutor's Office to keep them secret.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen M. Murphy ruled there was no argument for the videos not to be released, especially after prosecutors showed them at a December court hearing, according to attorney Thomas R. Burke, who represented The Associated Press and other news agencies in their attempt to gain access to these recordings.
David DePape in Berkeley, Calif., on Friday, December 13, 2013.Getty Images
The San Francisco Prosecutor's Office delivered the recordings to the judge on Wednesday, who asked the court clerk to distribute them to the media.
Paul Pelosi was sleeping on October 28 at the couple's home in San Francisco when an individual broke in and hit him with a hammer.
The Prosecutor's Office has filed charges against David DePape, 42, in connection with the attack.
During the preliminary hearing in December, prosecutors reproduced fragments of the call that Paul Pelosi made to the 911 emergency telephone number, and images captured by the surveillance cameras of the Capitol Police, the body cameras of the two agents who went to the house , and the video of the DePape interrogation.
[The man who assaulted the husband of Nancy Pelosi planned to attack Tom Hanks, the son of Joe Biden and the governor of California]
But when the media asked for copies of those recordings, the Prosecutor's Office refused to hand them over, claiming that making the images public would only allow people to manipulate them in their quest to spread false information.
The attack, which occurred days before the 2022 midterm elections, sparked intense speculation that fueled the spread of false information.
The media argued before the judge precisely that publishing the recordings will help disprove any false information circulating on the Internet about the attack.
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"You can't take away the public's right of access just because of concerns about conspiracy theories," said Thomas R. Burke, a lawyer for The Associated Press.
Among the media that requested the dissemination of the images are The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, CNN, Fox News, CBS, ABC, NBC and NPR.
[A woman called 911 after letting a killer use her phone in Yakima, Washington]
DePape pleaded not guilty in December to six criminal charges, including attempted murder.
Police say the man told them there was "evil in Washington" and that he wanted to hurt Nancy Pelosi because she was second in line to the White House (after the vice president).
The Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives in the November elections.
Republicans chose California Rep. Kevin McCarthy as their new spokesperson.
Pelosi will remain in Congress, but has resigned as Democratic leader.
She was replaced by Hakeem Jeffries, from New York.
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