A judge kicked out Gypsy Taub, the former partner of David DePape, from the courtroom during DePape’s state trial on Tuesday. DePape is the man accused of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home in 2022.
The judge also banned Taub from the public gallery and the second floor of the San Francisco courthouse because he believed she was trying to influence the jury.
Taub, a well-known activist in the Bay Area, had been handing out papers with a website address that promotes conspiracy theories. On Tuesday, someone wrote the website’s address on the wall of a women’s bathroom near the courtroom.
The judge’s decision came before DePape’s lawyer, Adam Lipson, gave his closing arguments. Lipson said that DePape had been living a lonely life and had fallen into a world of “propaganda and conspiracy theories” when he broke into the Pelosis’ home on Oct. 28, 2022.
DePape is facing several charges, including attempting to influence a witness, false imprisonment, residential burglary, threatening a family member of a public official, and aggravated kidnapping. Lipson told the jury that DePape was guilty of three of the charges but that prosecutors hadn’t provided enough evidence for the other two.
Last month, DePape was found guilty in federal court of assaulting a federal official’s family member and attempting to kidnap a federal official. He was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and will likely be sent back to Canada after serving his time.
Lipson argued that the state trial is unfair because it’s punishing DePape twice for the same crime. The judge agreed and dismissed some of the state charges, including attempted murder, elder abuse, and assault with a deadly weapon.
Lipson also said that prosecutors didn’t prove that DePape kidnapped Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, with the intent to get money or something valuable. In this case, prosecutors said DePape wanted to make a video of Nancy Pelosi admitting to crimes he thought she had committed.
The prosecutor, Phoebe Maffei, pointed out that DePape had told a detective he planned to get a video of Nancy Pelosi confessing to crimes and post it online. She said, “There is inherent value in a video of the Speaker of the House confessing to crimes in her own home.”
On Monday, Maffei told the jury that DePape had unleashed a “reign of terror” on Paul Pelosi before attacking him with a hammer as part of a plan he had been working on for months.
DePape admitted during his federal trial that he had planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage, question her, and “break her kneecaps” if she didn’t admit to lying about “Russiagate,” which refers to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.
The attack on Paul Pelosi happened just days before the 2022 midterm elections and shocked many people in politics. Pelosi suffered serious injuries, including a skull fracture that required plates and screws that he will have for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.