California judge orders public release of Paul Pelosi attack bodycam footage, surveillance video, more

Footage of the attack on Paul Pelosi may be publicly released as early as Thursday, after a San Francisco judge denied prosecutors' request to keep video and audio evidence of the October attack secret, multiple outlets reported.

"You don't eliminate the public right of access just because of concerns about conspiracy theories," attorney Thomas R. Burke told the Associated Press.

Burke represented multiple news organizations pushing for the public release of evidence related to 42-year-old David Wayne DePape's alleged attack on 82-year-old Pelosi on October 28, 2022, the AP also reported.

The news organizations demanding public release of the evidence included the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Press Democrat, CNN, Fox News, CBS, ABC, NBC, and San Francisco's KQED, according ABC 11 Eyewitness News.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen M. Murphy's decision on Wednesday comes after evidence was presented in a preliminary hearing in December, according to the Los Angeles Times. The evidence reportedly includes Capitol police surveillance footage, portions of Pelosi's 911 call, police officers' body camera footage, and video of DePape's interview with police.

After the preliminary hearing in December, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office refused news organizations' request for copies of the evidence the prosecutors had presented, ABC also reported. Those news organizations, in turn, argued that public release of the information was crucial.

The attack, in which Pelosi suffered a skull fracture and other serious injuries, occurred just a few days before the 2022 midterm elections. It resulted in intense media coverage and widespread public speculation on the timing and details of the altercation.

The indictment indicates that DePape said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), former U.S. speaker of the House, was on his "target list," and if she "lied," DePape would break "her kneecaps." The indictment also references the 2.5-minute phone call during which Paul Pelosi denies knowing who the intruder was and DePape can be heard in the background calling himself a "friend."

Attempted murder is among the six charges to which DePape has pleaded not guilty in the pending case.

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