Jan. 6 defendant who climbed rioters 'like human scaffolding' to stomp on heads of police deserves harsh sentence: Feds

Clockwise, from left: David Nicholas Dempsey gives an interview in front of gallows erected outside of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Dempsey, indicated with red arrow, climbs over fellow rioters on Jan. 6 at the entryway to the U.S. Capitol’s lower west terrace tunnel before using a long pole to attack police. Dempsey is seen clinging to tunnel frame and using feet to stomp on police officer’s heads on Jan. 6 (Department of Justice).

Federal prosecutors have urged a judge to sentence “one of the most violent rioters” at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 , David Nicholas Dempsey, to 21 years in prison, highlighting in a recent sentencing memorandum that Dempsey clawed his way through the mob by climbing atop his fellow rioters and using them “like human scaffolding” in order to thrust himself to the mouth of a crowded tunnel where he used his hands, feet, flagpoles, crutches, pepper spray, pieces of broken furniture and “anything else he could get his hands on” as weapons.

“Dempsey’s violence reached such extremes that, at one point, he attacked a fellow rioter who was trying to disarm him,” prosecutors wrote in a 46-page sentencing memorandum entered Aug. 2 in federal court in Washington, D.C.

Dempsey was arrested in California in August 2021 and an indictment was unveiled against him in September 2021. He was charged with felony obstruction of an official proceeding, felony assaulting , resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, felony obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, felony entering or remaining, disorderly and disruptive conduct and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, misdemeanor disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building.

He struck a plea deal with prosecutors in January and pleaded guilty to two assault with a dangerous weapon charges.

Court records show that on Jan. 6, Dempsey doused police with a torrent of pepper spray including one officer who, just moments before, had his face mask compromised by a different rioter. Dempsey attacked another police officer ferociously with a metal crutch. He cracked that officer’s protective shield and gas mask, forcing the officer to “collapse in a daze, his ears ringing.”

The blow by Dempsey also cut the officer’s head and caused a concussion.

Dempsey swung “pole-like weapons more than 20 times” and sprayed chemical agents on at least three distinct occasions. He hurled objects at police at least 10 times and was seen “stomping on the heads of police officers as he perched above them some five times. He attempted to steal a riot shield and police baton while at the Lower West Terrace tunnel and he did it all while screaming threats and insults, prosecutors say.

David Dempsey, indicated with red arrow, sprays two bursts of pepper spray into a line of officers at the lower west terrace of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (Justice Department).

He had arrived in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5 and records show he flew from California to Michigan, met two people in Detroit and they drove the rest of the way. His driving companions were not charged but prosecutors said one of them assisted Dempsey with getting an incriminating video temporarily removed from YouTube. That person did not enter the Capitol nor assault police, according to prosecutors.

He donned a BulletSafe tactical vest, helmet, camouflage-style pants, a long sleeve shirt, sunglasses and an American flag gaiter around his neck, mouth and nose.

Remarkably, before he set out on his one-man melee, prosecutors told the federal judge who will sentence Dempsey that they found video of him giving an interview in front of a wooden makeshift gallows erected on Capitol grounds. The structure bore a sign that said “This is Art” and it hung from a noose.

In a transcript of that interview shared with the court, Dempsey seethed:

This isn’t just art. This is necessary [ …] No, we don’t need to waste the taxpayer dollars on these worthless cretins who are treasonous to our country. We need to decriminalize hemp and marijuana, turn all that s— into rope when we’re done with it, and then string all these f—–’ worthless bastards up from the top of those [pointing to the gallows], these treelines, the rafters, the rooftops, the statues. I don’t care where they go. String ‘em up and string ‘em up high. And let everybody know this is what happens when you are a treasonous piece of s— who doesn’t belong in this f—–’ country and has this f—–’ country’s worst objective at heart. So, I’m 100% with it. I say we should have been doing this a long f—–’ time ago. Them worthless f—–’ s—holes like f—–’ Jerry Nadler, f—–‘ Pelosi, uh Clapper, Comey, f—–’ all those pieces of garbage, you know, Obama, all these dudes, Clinton, f— all these pieces of s—. That’s what they need [pointing to gallows]. They don’t need a jail cell. They need to hang from these motherf—— while everybody videotapes it and f—–’’ spreads it on YouTube, Bitchute, or whatever f—–‘ other social media there is. And they need it to get the point across, the time for peace talk is over. All that s— about being complacent, f— all that s—. For four years, five years really, they’ve been f—–‘ demonizing us, belittling us, hurting us, killing us, f—–‘ doing everything they can to stop what this is [referring to the rally for former President Trump] and people are sick of that s—. You know, and uh, hopefully one day soon, we really have someone hanging from one of these motherf—— [pointing to the gallows] just like they do in them other countries.

Dempsey joined a large crowd that formed at the tunnel around 4 p.m. and “climbed atop the shoulders, arms, and backs of other rioters to get to the front of the line,” the sentencing memo said.

Once there, he threw a short pole-like object at police, hitting one officer as he taunted him. He grabbed a police riot shield and attempted to throw it. Then, moments later, he hurled a flagpole at officers who were crammed into the tunnel. Footage showed Dempsey grabbing an officer’s baton and trying to yank it away. He also grasped framing at the side and top of the tunnel to steady himself above the officers’ heads before he began “stomping on the officers at the front of the line.”

After minutes of stomping on their heads and shields, he took a long pole and started prodding officers with it, prosecutors say.

As one fellow rioter tried to take the long pole from Dempsey, prosecutors say he “stomped” on that rioter too.

He proceeded to unleash bursts of pepper spray into the tunnel and, at one point, chucked a bottle containing a “unknown milky substance” at police which splashed onto a closed circuit security camera.

“That obscured the recording of the events in the tunnel, and hampered the government’s investigation of the events at the tunnel,” prosecutors wrote on Aug. 2.

For more than a half hour, Dempsey beat police and waved rioters forward. He told officers they were “pedophile supporting oath breakers” and screamed at them to “come out here.”

He retreated just once to rinse pepper spray from his eyes and face before he returned with a new gaiter on. Then he hurled broken pieces of furniture into the tunnel.

Prosecutors urged a stiff sentence in light of these actions and Dempsey’s criminal history.

The former construction worker and fast food employee pleaded no contest to second-degree burglary in 2009 in Los Angeles and was sentenced to 16 months. In 2012, he pleaded no contest to conspiracy and grand theft in Burbank and, in 2014, pleaded no contest to burglary charges again. In 2017 he pleaded no contest after he broke into a Van Nuys cellphone store, stole property and then fled. When police stopped Dempsey in 2017, prosecutors say he pretended to cooperate before fleeing in his car at speeds of over 100 mph.

More burglary charges and no contest or nolo contendere pleas followed in 2020 and 2021 including one nolo contendere plea to assault with a caustic chemical in Los Angeles. In 2019 when a peaceful protest against then-President Donald Trump had formed at the Santa Monica Pier, Dempsey used bear spray on anti-Trump protesters at short range. Prosecutors said he also punched a demonstrator and hit him over the head with a skateboard. At another political protest in 2020, he sprayed an individual with pepper spray while holding them to the ground. Dempsey also hit that person with a metal bat.

Prosecutors highlighted that Dempsey has about a dozen adult or juvenile cases on his record as well, including charges of vandalism, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon.

Federal prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 210 to 262 months, and they note that many of Dempsey’s prior convictions were set aside under a change to California penal code that restores the rights of convicted felons. On Friday, prosecutors say the U.S. Probation Office recommended a revised downward sentence as a result.

But “without having seen Dempsey’s filings on these petitions in California, the government is left to guess exactly how such relief was sought, let alone granted, when Dempsey had been charged with the commission of offenses in this case August 25, 2021,” the government wrote.

Dempsey appears to have “scurried off to a California state court in an attempt to undo his atrocious criminal history because he is faced with the impending consequences of his actions on January 6,” they wrote.

Dempsey has not filed his proposed sentencing memorandum yet but it should be imminent. Dempsey asked for an extension on Aug. 1 to complete it by Monday and that request was granted by presiding U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan.

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