Earlier in the week, I noted the WaPo story “Paul Pelosi attack video shows break-in, assault with hammer” and immediately concluded that, not only did I not want to watch Paul Pelosi, or anyone else for that matter, being attacked with a hammer, I saw no public interest in making such a video public.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one and the story actually deals with the issue pretty well.

The video clip, which runs just over 1 ½ minutes, was part of a batch of evidence released Friday in the case against the suspect, David DePape, giving an up-close view of what happened during the stunning attack at the house of one of the nation’s highest-ranking politicians.

The tranche also includes audio from Paul Pelosi’s call to 911, part of a police interview with DePape and security camera video of the break-in. It was made public after The Washington Post and other news organizations pressed for copies and San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen M. Murphy ruled in favor of releasing them.

Why?

Wild rumors, amplified by conservative activists and bloggers, had surged after the 2 a.m. attack 11 days before the 2022 midterm elections, and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office argued that unsealing video and audio could fuel more misinformation while risking DePape’s right to a fair trial. Someone, for instance, could edit the clips to manipulate audiences on social media.

But Murphy ruled that footage playing in a public courtroom should be handed to the media.

“These are open facts. They are known facts,” said Thomas Burke, a lawyer representing the coalition of news organizations that pushed for access to the evidence, including The Post. “The public’s right of access should not be dependent on conspiracy theories.”

But why does the public have a “right of access” that overrides the Pelosi family’s privacy and the perpetrator’s* right to a fair trial?

The internet gossip had spread rapidly to Capitol Hill, where Republican officials groundlessly cast doubt on 82-year-old Paul Pelosi’s account of the violence and referenced baseless homophobic conspiracy theories.

Prosecutors, however, have said that what happened was clear — and that DePape himself outlined his actions in tapes like those just released.

“The most stark evidence of planning and motive in this case were the statements of the defendant himself,” San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Maffei said at the December hearing.

In the now-public interview with police, DePape told an investigator: “I’m not trying to get away with this. I know exactly what I did.”

The audio and videos, part of a larger cache of evidence authorities have gathered against DePape, further debunk the claims made by far-right actors, mainstream politicians and Twitter owner Elon Musk, who used his platform to spread misinformation before backpedaling hours later.

Some claimed that DePape, whose descent into extremism is laid out in a long online trail, was not animated by radical right-wing politics; others said, without evidence, that DePape hadn’t actually broken into the house.

But in his interview with police, DePape says he was trying to punish Nancy Pelosi for what he called the Democratic Party’s “lies” and “crimes.” Also included in the released evidence was a six-minute video capturing the moment DePape broke in through a back door.

I do agree that debunking ugly conspiracy theories is important. And the video in question very much achieves that. Still, I don’t know that the public should see the video over the objections of the defense attorneys and the victim’s family.

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill on Friday afternoon, Nancy Pelosi said she has not reviewed any of the newly released evidence and will not do so.

“I have not heard the 911 call. I have not heard the confession,” she said. “I have not seen the break-in, and I have absolutely no intention of seeing the deadly assault on my husband’s life.”

That’s perfectly understandable. Why compound the trauma?

DePape’s public defender, Adam Lipson, said the decision to release the tapes was “a terrible mistake.”

“Releasing this footage is disrespectful to Mr. Pelosi, and serves no purpose except to feed the public desire for spectacle and violence,” Lipson said in a statement. “The footage is inflammatory and could feed unfounded theories about this case, and we are extremely concerned about Mr. DePape’s ability to get a fair trial.”

DePape was 42 at the time of his arrest, and he told police that he showed up at the Pelosis’ home in San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood because Nancy Pelosi was “the ‘leader of the pack’ of lies told by the Democratic Party.”

He said he planned to hold her hostage and break her kneecaps if she lied to him in order to “show other members of Congress there were consequences to actions.”

But Pelosi was in Washington that day. It was her husband who woke to the intruder carrying a hammer, zip ties, rope and a roll of tape. Paul Pelosi talked to DePape before managing to go to the bathroom and call 911, authorities said. DePape was nearby, watching him dial.

Granting that DePape has boasted about his crimes and no reasonable juror could acquit him, his attorney’s wishes should nonetheless carry considerable weight here. I honestly see little to no value in the release.

________________

*I’m as big a stickler for the preemption of innocence as it gets but, in this case, there’s not only a videotape of the crime but the accused makes no bones about the crime and his intent.