California Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Violent Assaults During U.S. Capitol Riot

A California man, David Nicholas Dempsey, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday for his brutal assaults on police officers during the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Dempsey, who has a prior history of political violence, carried out repeated and aggressive attacks using flagpoles and other improvised weapons against law enforcement officers who were defending the Capitol as a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the building.

Dempsey’s sentence is one of the longest handed down in connection with the Capitol riot, highlighting the severity of his actions. Prosecutors described him as among the most violent participants in the mob, which had converged on the Capitol as lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

Hailing from Van Nuys, Dempsey was involved in a series of violent encounters during the riot. He stomped on the heads of police officers, swung poles at them, struck one officer in the head with a metal crutch, and used pepper spray and broken furniture to attack the officers defending a tunnel entrance. At one point, he even climbed over other rioters, using them as “human scaffolding” to reach officers, injuring at least two of them.

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“Your conduct on January 6 was exceptionally egregious,” U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Dempsey during the sentencing. “You did not get carried away in the moment.”

Dempsey had pleaded guilty in January to two counts of assaulting police officers with a dangerous weapon. His sentence is only surpassed by that of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who received 22 years for orchestrating a plot to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election.

In court, Dempsey expressed remorse for his actions, calling his behavior “reprehensible” and apologizing to the officers he had assaulted. “You were performing your duties, and I responded with hostility and violence,” he said before his sentence was announced.

Despite his apology, the prosecution emphasized the extreme nature of Dempsey’s violence. The Justice Department had recommended a sentence of 21 years and 10 months, arguing that Dempsey’s actions were so severe that he even attacked a fellow rioter who tried to disarm him. “David Dempsey is political violence personified,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Brasher stated.

Defense attorney Amy Collins, who sought a much lighter sentence of six years and six months, criticized the government’s recommendation as “ridiculous.” She argued that it reduced Dempsey to a statistic without considering his personal growth and the person he had become.

On January 6, Dempsey was clad in tactical gear, including a vest, helmet, and an American flag gaiter covering his face, as he launched his attack on police officers guarding a tunnel leading to the lower west terrace doors. During the chaos, he pepper-sprayed Metropolitan Police Department Detective Phuson Nguyen, exacerbating the officer’s struggle to breathe as another rioter pulled at his gas mask. Dempsey then struck Sergeant Jason Mastony in the head with a metal crutch, causing a significant injury.

“I collapsed and caught myself against the wall as my ears rang. I was able to stand again and hold the line for a few more minutes until another assault by rioters pushed the police line back away from the threshold of the tunnel,” Mastony recalled in a statement submitted to the court.

Dempsey has been in custody since his arrest in August 2021. His criminal history in California includes convictions for burglary, theft, and assault. Notably, his assault conviction stemmed from an October 2019 incident near the Santa Monica Pier, where he attacked peaceful demonstrators protesting against then-President Trump by using bear spray.

Prosecutors also detailed other instances of Dempsey’s “vicious political violence” that did not result in criminal charges. These included an attack on a counter-protester with a skateboard at a June 2019 rally in Los Angeles and assaults at protests in Tujunga and Beverly Hills in 2020.

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