The public defender’s office and the prosecutor’s office had the chance to object to the judge’s involvement in the case against a man who is accused of breaking into the Pelosi home, beating her husband, and attempting to kidnap the speaker when a San Francisco judge revealed on Friday that she had worked with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s daughter in the 1990s.

Prosecutors claim that Paul Pelosi, 82, was struck with a hammer, knocked out, and woke up on October 28 in a pool of his own blood in the family’s Pacific Heights home. He was later discharged from the hospital on Thursday.

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Indicted on state charges of attempted murder, burglary, and elder abuse, 42-year-old David DePape is being jailed without bail. Adam Lipson, DePape’s public counsel, pleaded not guilty on his behalf earlier this week and promised to fiercely defend him.

In the 1990s, Judge Loretta “Lori” Giorgi and Christine Pelosi were coworkers in the San Francisco city attorney’s office, but they had not spoken for some time. Christine is one of the five adult children of Nancy and Charles Pelosi, and even though she has never run for public office, many people believe she may succeed Pelosi when she retires.

In court documents published earlier this week, authorities claimed that DePape broke into the house while toting a rope, zip ties, and tape in a backpack. He requested to speak with “Nancy,” who was out of town and then woke up Paul Pelosi. Paul Pelosi was struck in the head by DePape while two police officers rushed to the house in response to his 911 call.

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Giorgi’s connections to the Pelosi family were not a point of contention during the hearing on Friday, but either party might do so in the future, and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins noted the case might still be tried by a different court. The public defender’s office was unable to comment right away.

“I do want to make a disclosure on the record that the daughter of Mr. Pelosi, Christine Pelosi, and I were in the city attorney’s office together in the 90s,” Giorgi told the court. “And I have disclosed to counsel the interactions that I had when she and I were together. I haven’t seen or heard or talked to Ms. Pelosi after she left the office. I do see her here today.”

Before being appointed to the bench in 2006, Giorgi worked for the city attorney’s office from 1985 until that year. She advanced to the position of the deputy city attorney and oversaw the department’s public integrity.

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Christine Pelosi was present at the hearing on Friday, but she appeared to escape through a back door to avoid the waiting press in the hallway. Just before the trial began, she entered the courthouse and took a seat in the front row away from the media.

Californian and federal Democratic politics are both active for Christine Pelosi. She published The Nancy Pelosi Way, a book about her mother, in 2019. She actively participated in the #MeToo movement when it developed in the state capitol of California in 2017 while serving as the chair of the women’s caucus of the California Democratic Party.

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An inquiry for information regarding Giorgi and Christine Pelosi’s employment was not immediately answered by the city attorney’s office.

DePape, a Canadian, overstayed his visa to enter the United States more than 20 years ago. A U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the situation believes that he should have been prevented from entering the nation when he returned a few times over the years, The Associated Press reported.