Opposition to the release of the January 6th video
Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram gives Tucker Carlson on “Special Report” the latest fallout from new revelations about the Capitol breach resulting from the release of 40,000 hours of surveillance video.
A California man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, the second-longest sentence so far among hundreds of prosecutions against rioters.
David Nicholas Dempsey pleaded guilty in January to two counts of assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to serve a term second to the 22-year sentence of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. Report from the Guardian.
Prosecutors have charged that Dempsey was one of the most violent members of the mob that stormed the Capitol to protest Congress’ certification of President Biden in the 2020 presidential election, and detailed how Dempsey, a California native, stomped on an officer’s head and beat him with improvised weapons including metal crutches, a stick, pepper spray and pieces of broken furniture.
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Rioters gather at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
Dempsey also used other rioters as “human platforms” and climbed on top of them to gain access to officers guarding a tunnel to the building, injuring two officers. Prosecutors said Dempsey, who worked in construction and a fast-food restaurant, also attacked fellow protesters who tried to disarm him.
“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 apologised for his actions during the sentencing, telling the judge his behaviour was “reprehensible” and also apologising to the officers he attacked.
“You were doing your job and I responded with hostility and violence,” Dempsey said.
A scene from the riots that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
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Dempsey was previously convicted of burglary, theft and assault in California after attacking peaceful protesters against former President Trump in October 2019. That conviction led to him serving a 200-day jail sentence.
Prosecutors had argued that Dempsey was the “personification of political violence” and sought a 21-year sentence, while the defence argued that the government’s sentencing recommendation was “absurd” and argued for a sentence of six years and six months.
A look at the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
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“This makes him just a statistic,” his lawyer, Amy Collins, said, “and it doesn’t take into account who he is as a person and how much he’s grown.”
Ultimately, the judge sided with the prosecution and sentenced Dempsey, who has already been in prison since August 2021, to 20 years.
