By Peter Blumberg | Bloomberg
The man accused of striking former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in the head with a hammer during a home intrusion says he can’t get a fair trial in San Francisco because of negative publicity.
Lawyers for David DePape on Wednesday asked a federal judge to move his trial out of the city where Nancy and Paul Pelosi live, saying the local jury pool is likely biased from extensive media coverage of the October incident.
DePape’s defense team cited survey research indicating that a high proportion of Bay Area residents think he’s guilty after a state judge allowed video footage of the alleged attack and an audio recording of the suspect’s interrogation by police to air on TV news broadcasts.
In federal court, he faces charges filed by the Justice Department of attempted kidnapping of a US official and assault of an immediate family member of a US official in retaliation for performing her duties.
In state court, DePape is charged with attempted murder, as well as assault with a deadly weapon, residential burglary, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder and threatening a public official’s family member.
A spokesman for the US Attorney’s office in San Francisco didn’t immediately respond outside regular business hours to a request for comment.
Nancy Pelosi left her leadership role in January after Republicans took control of the House but remains a representative of California in Congress.
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