Central government lawyers explained David Dempsey Jan. 6, 2021 as “one of the most violent rioters” during the riots at the US Capitol.
According to court documents, the Van Nuys man used flagpoles, metal crutches and broken furniture to climb onto the building. He “brutally assaulted and injured police officers” for more than an hour, “during a very violent time, in a very violent confrontation,” prosecutors wrote.
In August, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon and trespassing on a congressional seat.
But on Tuesday, after Pres Trump issued a massive pardon Or for all those convicted of the Jan. 6 crimes — more than 1,500 people — Dempsey was freed, having served less than 3½ years, officials confirmed.
Other Jan. 6 defendants — including what Trump called “hostages” — were released nationwide based on judicial recommendations from Trump's orders to the Bureau of Prisons.
said Amy Collins, a Washington-based attorney representing several Jan. 6 defendants, including Dempsey. “The DOJ seems to be jumping on board really quickly.”
Collins declined to comment on Dempsey's case, but said the pardon process — after years of litigation, plea deals and hearings — has been “very surreal” for defendants and their attorneys alike.
“Trump kept his word and that has a direct effect on our case, and that's a big thing,” he said. “It's a unique situation.”
The sudden acquittal of several convicts on January 6 marked a stunning end to years of hard, expensive work by federal prosecutors to identify, track down, prosecute and convict hundreds of Trump loyalists and MAGA thugs who stormed the Capitol. A failed attempt to keep Trump in power illegally after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
By the end of last year, the investigation had become the largest in the Justice Department's history, indicting a total of 1,561 people, 590 of whom were charged with assaulting, resisting, obstructing or obstructing law enforcement officers. About 980 people pleaded guilty, 210 were found guilty at trial, and 645 were sentenced to at least some time in prison.
The Justice Department's prosecution effort under Biden was an important check on the political violence on display that day. It said 140 police officers were assaulted and millions of dollars in damage were caused.
However, Trump never saw it that way. On the campaign trail he repeatedly lied about what happened, downplayed the severity of the attacks and suggested the accused were wrongfully held as political prisoners. He promised a pardon, but gave conflicting statements about whether he would pardon all the accused or a narrow accomplice.
Even within his own Republican Party, Trump has faced opposition to pardons for the worst offenders, such as those who violently attack police officers. Earlier this month, now-Vice President JT Vance told Fox News, Jan. “Obviously you shouldn't be forgiven, and there's a bit of a gray area there,” he said if someone was violent on 6.

Supporters of President Trump's January 6 pardon gathered at the DC Central Detention Center in Washington on Tuesday.
(Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press)
And yet, within hours of taking office, Trump pardoned most of the defendants on January 6, including many convicted of violent crimes. And he commuted the sentences of the rest — 14 high-profile defendants, including militant leaders accused of plotting treason against the government — and freed them from prison.
The order drew surprise from both sides of the political aisle, and outrage from liberal leaders and law enforcement officials wounded in the attack.
A Interview on CNNFormer Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanon, who suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him with a stun gun during the riot, blasted Trump's decision to pardon the men who attacked him and other officers. He also criticized those who voted for Trump's return to office, despite Trump's promise to do so during the campaign.
“I was betrayed by my country, I was betrayed by the people who supported Donald Trump,” said Fanon, a 20-year law enforcement officer. “Whether you voted for him because he promised these pardons or for some other reason, you knew this was coming — here we are.”
A member of the House Committee that investigated the rebellion, Sen. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), said, “Trump has given a 'get out of jail free' card to rioters who committed brutal violence in his name.”
Schiff said the orders aren't “pardons for their crimes” but “a permission system to do it again.”
Both Fanon and Schiff were among those pardoned by President Biden earlier Monday, not because they were charged, but out of fear that Trump would retaliate against them for holding the January 6 attackers to account.
in the middle Those released from prison Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Dario and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes – Rhodes' 18-year prison sentence and Dario's 22-year sentence for treasonous conspiracy ended immediately.
Rhodes' sentence was commuted. James Lee Bright, his lawyer, thanked X, writing that “a pardon is prayed for, but better than jail while he appeals.”
Dario's attorney, Naeeb Hasan, thanked Trump. Hassan called it a “pivotal moment” in Dario's career and a “turning point for our nation.”
Among those pardoned and released were other Californians besides Dempsey.
A defense attorney, Tyke Huish, said Tuesday that he is awaiting a pardon certificate for his client Russell Taylor, who is accused of being part of the Three Percenters militant group and coordinating a trip from California to Washington, D.C., to stop Biden. success
Taylor, who said he wore body armor and carried a knife and hat as he helped others cross the police line, initially faced a more severe sentence, but received leniency after agreeing to testify against former La Habra Police Chief and member Alan Hostetter. Called the DC Brigade.
Taylor was sentenced to six months of house arrest after pleading guilty and placed on probation to end in 2027. Huish said such restrictions were “now over” but advised his client to wait for certification.
He said he still wants Taylor's charges to be dismissed because a pardon is not the same as an impeachment.
Huish declined to make Taylor available for an interview, but said Taylor is “overjoyed that President Trump has kept his promise and that he is free to return to his full life without court-imposed probation.”
Joe Allen, who represents several of the Jan. 6 defendants, including one from California, said that while he was not surprised by Trump's pardon, he was “a little surprised at the breadth” of them.
“I thought there were some criminals [pleaded] Convicted or found guilty [of] “He doesn't condone violent crimes because law enforcement officers are on the other end of those violent crimes,” Allen said.
He also believes that many should not have been charged. Her clients have “lost a lot” in the process — one client from Tennessee missed the birth of her child — and the pardon “gives them back their rights,” she said.
But he also questioned how Trump's pardon and a bunch of others offered by Biden earlier Monday — officials who investigated on Jan. 6 and others who drew the ire of Trump and members of his family — could affect perceptions of the U.S. justice system.
“I have to wonder what other countries are thinking when they see our leadership behaving like this,” he said. “It's almost like the embarrassment of mom and dad fighting in front of the kids.”