Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to DUI-related charges related to his May 28 car crash in Napa County, California.
The lawmaker’s husband did not appear at the proceeding in a Napa County court, but his plea was entered by his attorney, Amanda Bevins. The plea came just hours after details from the complaint were released, describing the 82-year-old Pelosi as impaired on the night he crashed his Porsche into a Jeep, totaling both.
“He was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred and he had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath,” the complaint states.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence in the May 28 car crash. (Napa County Department of Corrections)
Pelosi, who faces two misdemeanor charges, DUI causing injury and driving with a blood alcohol level of .08% causing injury, will remain free on his own recognizance and is due back in court on Aug. 23.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by the New York Post, Pelosi tried to pass off a police courtesy card when state Highway Patrol officers arrived, then according to investigators blew a blood-alcohol level of .082% after failing a field sobriety test.
Pelosi’s day in court came as his powerful wife is on a controversial trip to Taiwan that had angered Beijing and caused headaches for the Biden administration. She met with Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday.
Paul Pelosi was driving back to the power couple’s St. Helena vineyard home when the crash occurred on State Route 29. The driver of the 2014 Jeep, Jesus Lopez, 48, was injured in the crash and complained of having pain in his upper right arm, right shoulder and neck when seen by investigators the following day. In the complaint, Lopez says he began experiencing severe headaches following the crash.
Highway Patrol officers said the VIP spouse’s eyes appeared “red and watery,” and said he was obviously drunk.
Pelosi was booked at the Napa County Jail and released at 4:30 a.m. the next day. His wife was in Rhode Island at the time.
In 1957, Pelosi, who was then a 16-year-old high school student, was involved in a car crash that killed his brother David. A neck brace the 19-year-old sibling wore was blamed for strangling him as he lay in the wreckage, and manslaughter charges were dismissed against Pelosi.