(Washington) A man described by the prosecution as one of the “most violent” participants in the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021 in Washington was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison.
The sentence handed down to David Dempsey, a 37-year-old Californian, is the second-longest sentence handed down to any of the nearly 1,500 people charged for their roles in the assault on the headquarters of both houses of the U.S. legislature.
It was led by a crowd of Donald Trump supporters contesting Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, following an exalted speech by the Republican, on the day the election results were to be validated by Congress.
Five people died and 140 members of the security forces were injured.
The prosecution had requested a 22-year prison sentence for David Dempsey, a former construction worker and fast food employee, citing his already lengthy criminal record.
She described him as “one of the most violent rioters, during one of the most violent moments (of the assault), at the site of the most violent confrontations at the Capitol.”
He used “his hands, feet, flagpoles, crutches, pepper spray, pieces of broken furniture and anything else he could get his hands on as weapons against the police,” the prosecution said.
Dempsey had pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting police officers.
A former leader of the American far-right group Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, was sentenced in September to 22 years in prison for his role in the storming of the Capitol.