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A Van Nuys man described by federal prosecutors as “one of the most violent rioters” throughout the Jan. 6 Capitol rebellion was sentenced to twenty years in jail Friday, one of many longest sentences issued to a defendant for the assault.
David Nicholas Dempsey, 37, used flag poles, metallic crutches and damaged items of furnishings throughout the 2021 riot, injuring police and different insurrectionists, based on courtroom paperwork. He pleaded responsible to assaulting a legislation enforcement officer with a harmful weapon and breach of the U.S. Capitol in January.
Protesters collect on the second day of pro-Trump occasions fueled by President Donald Trump’s continued claims of election fraud in an to overturn the outcomes earlier than Congress finalizes them in a joint session of the 117th Congress on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
Dempsey traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally and is seen in video standing close to a picket construction representing a dangling gallows whereas saying politicians like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Jerry Nadler ought to be hanged in a livestream on YouTube.
“That’s what they need,” Dempsey stated in a YouTube livestream, based on prosecutors. “They don’t need a jail cell.”
Shortly after, Dempsey took half in among the most violent assaults captured on video on Jan. 6.
In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors referred to Dempsey’s actions throughout the Jan. 6 rebellion as among the many most violent.
“For over one hour, defendant David Dempsey viciously assaulted and injured police officers defending the Lower West Terrce Tunnel with a variety of implements he refashioned as weapons,” prosecutors argued in courtroom filings. “Dempsey was one of the most violent rioters, during one of the most violent stretches of time, at the scene of the most violent confrontations at the Capitol.”
This picture from video from the Justice Department contained within the sentencing memorandum, and annotated by the supply, reveals David Nicholas Dempsey throwing a pole at a police officer within the Lower West Terrace Tunnel on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Dempsey, a California man with a historical past of political violence, was sentenced on Aug. 9, 2024, to twenty years in jail for repeatedly attacking police with flagpoles and different makeshift weapons throughout the riot on the U.S. Capitol.
(Justice Dept. / Associated Press)
While different Jan. 6 rioters slowly made their method to the Capitol, prosecutors stated Dempsey climbed over individuals, “using them like human scaffolding, thrusting himself to the front.”
Dempsey used flag poles, crutches, pepper spray and items of furnishings as weapons, in what officers described as a chronic assault that affected each side of the melee.
“Dempsey’s violence reached such extremes that, at one point, he attacked a fellow rioter who was trying to disarm him,” prosecutors wrote.
When one rioter compromised the fuel masks of a Metropolitan Police Department Detective, Dempsey used pepper spray to assault the officer.
Minutes later, Dempsey additionally hit one other officer with a metallic crutch, making the officer fall again in a daze and together with his fuel masks face defend crushed.
United States Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger applauded the sentence Friday.
“David Dempsey was one of the most violent participants and at times lead parts of the assaults on multiple officers who were protecting the Capitol that day,” Manger stated in a press release. “We thank the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their work in investigating and prosecuting this case.”
In in search of a extreme sentence, prosecutors argued Dempsey had a historical past of political violence. In 2019, he was arrested on suspicion of utilizing pepper spray throughout a political rally.
Dempsey is considered one of 1,488 individuals who have confronted legal prices associated to the Jan. 6 assault. Last month, two girls from Southern California had been charged for his or her function within the rebellion. In March, prosecutors charged a lady from Northridge.
Their respective futures and their jail sentences may dangle within the stability throughout this 12 months’s presidential election.
Former President Donald Trump, has stated in earlier interviews, together with throughout a current look with a panel from the National Association of Black Journalists, that he would difficulty pardons to Jan. 6 rioters.
“Oh, absolutely, I would, if they’re innocent I would pardon them,” Trump stated throughout the panel. “They were convicted by a very tough system.”
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