Jan. 6 rioter who attacked Capitol Police with deadly weapons gets 20-year prison sentence
On August 9, after appearing in United States District Court in Washington, D.C., 37-year-old David Dempsey was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the January 6, 2021, violence at the United States Capitol. On January 4, 2024, Dempsey pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a deadly weapon
Back in 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced that Dempsey was one of two California men who repeatedly attacked police with a variety of deadly weapons. Dempsey, of Van Nuys, along with Jeffrey Scott Brown, of Santa Ana, were charged with federal offenses related to their alleged assault and impediment of certain officers.
Dempsey was charged with use of a dangerous weapon, obstruction of an official proceeding, and civil disorder in addition to assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers. Brown was separately charged with inflicting bodily injury on officers, obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, among other charges. Both men made their initial court appearances on August 26, 2021, in the Central District of California.
According to court documents, Dempsey was captured in numerous videos taken on the lower west terrace during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. As depicted, Dempsey wore various outfits, but predominantly a black shirt, dark helmet, goggles and an American flag gaiter covering most of his face. In several still photos, he can be seen using various objects, including a crutch and a metal pole, as bludgeoning weapons or projectiles against the line of law enforcement officers protecting the tunnel in front of the west terrace entrance. Additional video footage shows Dempsey spraying officers with what appears to be a lacrimal agent.
In a statement shared by The Hill, U.S. Capitol Police chief Thomas Manger called Dempsey “one of the most violent participants” of the riot and credited him with leading assaults on numerous officers.
Dempsey was previously convicted after spraying a crowd of anti-Trump protesters with a can of bear repellant in 2019 while wearing a Make America Great Again cap. Prosecutors said in court filings that the incident “ominously foreshadowed” his later assault on a police officer at the Capitol.
The Associated Press reported U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth as saying to Dempsey, “Your conduct on January 6th was exceptionally egregious. You did not get carried away in the moment.”
Dempsey’s 20-year prison sentence is the second longest sentence imposed upon a January 6 Capitol rioter. Only former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has received a longer sentence. Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years for orchestrating a plot to stop the peaceful transfer of power from Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.
For more on Dempsey’s 20-year prison sentence for his involvement in the January 6 Capitol Riot, see the video accompanying this article.
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(Sources:United States Capitol Police, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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