California man who attacked Capitol police gets 20-year sentence, one of the longest for January 6th

Michael Kunzelman | The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A California man with a history of political violence was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for repeatedly attacking police with a flagpole and other improvised weapons during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

David Nicholas Dempsey's sentence is among the longest of hundreds charged in the Capitol riot cases, with prosecutors describing Dempsey as one of the most violent members of the mob of Donald Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol as lawmakers were meeting to certify Joe Biden's 2020 presidential election victory.

Dempsey, of Van Nuys, stomped on an officer's head and, according to prosecutors, swung a stick at officers guarding the tunnel, hit an officer in the head with a metal crutch and attacked officers with pepper spray and pieces of broken furniture.

He climbed on top of other rioters and used them as “human platforms” to get to the police officers guarding the tunnel entrance, injuring at least two officers, prosecutors said.

“Your conduct on January 6 was extremely egregious,” U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Dempsey. “You were not emotionally invested in the situation.”

Dempsey pleaded guilty in January to two counts of assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon.

Tarrio is the only person convicted of the January 6 attack to receive a longer sentence than former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for orchestrating a plot to stop the peaceful transfer of power from President Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.

Dempsey called his actions “reprehensible” and apologised to the officers who assaulted him.

“You were doing your job and I responded with hostility and violence,” he said before hearing the sentence.

Department of Justice prosecutors recommended a sentence of 21 years and 10 months for Dempsey, a former construction worker and fast-food employee who they described as an extreme case of violence in which he attacked fellow rioters who tried to take their weapons from him.

“David Dempsey is the embodiment of political violence,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Brasher told the judge.

His lawyer, Amy Collins, who sought a sentence of six years and six months, described the government's sentencing recommendation as “absurd”.

“It just makes him a statistic,” she said, “and doesn't take into account who he is as a person and how much he's grown.”

Dempsey was wearing a tactical vest, helmet and American flag gaiters covering his face when he attacked officers in a tunnel leading to the Lower West Terrace entrance. He sprayed Metropolitan police detective Phuson Nguyen with pepper spray just as another rioter yanked off the officer's gas mask.

“The searing spray burned Detective Nguyen's lungs, throat, eyes and face, causing him to gasp for air, fearing he would lose consciousness and be overpowered by the mob,” prosecutors wrote.

Dempsey then struck MPD Sergeant Jason Mastony in the head with a metal crutch, breaking the shield on his gas mask and cutting him in the head.

“I began to hear ringing in my ears and collapsed, grabbing hold of the wall. I managed to get back up and hold the line for a few minutes before another attack by the mob pushed the police line back from the tunnel entrance,” Mastony said in a statement filed with the court.

Dempsey has been incarcerated since his arrest in August 2021.