Paul Pelosi attacker David DePape brought UNICORN costumes to attack House Speaker's husband, attempted murder trial hears: Didn't flinch as gruesome attack footage was replayed

Paul Pelosi's attacker David DePape brought two unicorn costumes to his victim's mansion before bludgeoning him with a hammer, a court heard.  

David DePape, a former nudist from Canada, entered the Pelosi's San Francisco mansion through a back door in the early hours of October 28, 2022, and bludgeoned former House Speaker Nancy's 82 year-old husband Paul.

The attack - which DePape's defense attorney has conceded he carried out - put Paul Pelosi in hospital with a fractured skull.

At court in San Francisco Monday, authorities shared records of DePape’s purchases from Amazon in the months before the attacks, a laundry list of items he reportedly took with him to the crime scene. 

They included everything from a camping backpack, computer cables, body cameras, crayons and, bizarrely, two Spooktacular unicorn costumes.

The prosecution played a recording of a call DePage later placed to a news reporter stating: ‘I have an important message for everyone in America. You’re welcome.’ 

He then talked about the need for more patriots, and offered an apology that ‘I didn’t get more of them.’

On Monday, he watched without flinching as prosecutors played the police body camera footage of the attack.

DePape calmly sat with two defense lawyers at table on left, as prosecutors called witnesses laying out the case. 

He sat back in brown leather chair, crossed arms, observing the testimony. He wore a blue sweater over blue button down, clean shaven, hair pulled back into a pony tail. 

Prosecutors presented the graphic footage of the hammer attack, showing an officer shining a flashlight confronting DePape with Pelosi in the doorway. 

As the two struggle, DePape hoists his hammer and smashed Pelosi over the head, striking him three times to the ground. 

Another video showed blood gushing from Pelosi’s head, with his hands soaked red, as paramedics tended to him. 

Audible gasps could be heard in the courtroom, but DePape appeared unperturbed. He blinked a few times but kept silent, hunched over as he watched the video played on the laptop computer in front of him. 

A court sketch shows DePape listening to an official from Spokeo, a people search website, testify about his search history.

Jason Matthes, who works for Spokeo, testified briefly that he searched for Pelosi’s home as well as other sites in Hollywood and Sacramento before the attack. 

Stephanie Minor, FBI special agent, testified they reviewed a series of web activity found on DePape’s hard drive, including a series of Nancy Pelosi-related searches in the days leading up to the attack. 

He repeatedly searched Spokeo to find her home address in San Francisco, searched for information on her biography, and also researched some past news stories about other people who’ve targeted her home. 

Minor noted one search of DailyMail.com for a story about a YouTuber who filmed himself defecating on the Pelosi driveway, and other google searches on ‘Pelosi Pig Blood,’ about her property being vandalized with a pig’s head and fake blood. 

Images of Pelosi’s garage, shown in coverage of that incident, were found stored on DePape’s hard drive.

Minor testified that there were about 50 video surveillance cameras capturing DePape’s chilling trip to carry out the hammer attack.

He’s seen hauling two backpacks and the sleeping bag, later recovered by authorities.

One shows multiple camera angles of him going through the turnstile at the Bay Area Rapid Transit station at El Cerrito Plaza. Some of the time stamps are off, in some cases, because the surveillance cameras were not updated to daylight savings.

Other footage shows DePape, wearing a long sleeve top and cargo shorts, boarding a train at the station before it sped off, then sitting inside with his feet propped on his bag. 

He’s then seen standing on a platform at MacArthur Station waiting for a transfer, boarding another train to Civic Center/UN Plaza, taking the ride, arriving at the station.

He’s then seen boarding a San Francisco Muni bus, and later exiting at North Point Street and Van Ness Avenue.

U.S. Capitol police video footage shows DePape, appearing as a shadowy figure, walking briskly on a sidewalk toward the Pelosi residence, then in clearer view entering through a gate and stepping around back to the rear patio.

He’s then seen using an object to repeatedly bash a glass window to break into the property.

Paul Pelosi is scheduled to testify in the trial and will recount the night the man broke into his San Francisco home and fractured his skull. 

Prosecutors said DePape previously admitted to breaking into the residence with the intention of getting the senior Democrat to acknowledge her party's 'lies' or he would smash her kneecaps.

When he found only her then-82-year-old husband at home, he engaged in what he told officers was a 'pretty amicable' exchange, during which Paul Pelosi managed to call for help.

DePape has pleaded not guilty to breaking and entering and attempted murder charges, and a federal trial is underway. 

He has struggled with drugs and posts crazed COVID conspiracy theories, anti-Semitic rants, racist slurs and unhinged screeds about religion online. 

In opening statements, defense attorney Jodi Linker said she won't dispute that her client attacked Paul Pelosi, an encounter caught on police body camera video.

In the footage, DePape can apparently be seen bludgeoning Pelosi with a hammer before officers rush at him and take the weapon away.

Pelosi was knocked unconscious and spent almost a week in hospital, where he underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture.

Instead, his attorney will argue that he believed 'with every ounce of his being' that he was taking action to stop government corruption and the abuse of children by politicians and actors. 

Linker's argument is that DePape is not guilty of the charges because he was not after Nancy Pelosi to try to stop her from engaging in her official duties.

'These beliefs matter because both charges require that the government prove that Mr. DePape acted because of her performance of her official duties as a member of Congress,' Linker said.

She said DePape's beliefs are 'wholly unrelated to Nancy Pelosi's official duties.'

When police arrested DePape, they found a manifesto that contained antigovernmental beliefs and a list of other politicians he planned to target.

He has posted rants on a blog and an online forum about aliens, communists, religious minorities and global elites.

He questioned the results of the 2020 election and echoed the baseless, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory that claims the U.S. government is run by a cabal of devil-worshipping pedophiles. The websites were taken down shortly after his arrest.

He also has pleaded not guilty to charges in state court of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary and other felonies.

A state trial has not been scheduled.