In a recent sentencing that marks the culmination of a prolonged judicial affair, Dawayne Joseph Spriggs, a 35-year-old from Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland, has received a nine-year prison term. Spriggs was convicted of obstruction of justice and subornation of perjury, according to a report by the U.S. Attorney's Office. reported by the U.S. Department of Justice.
After pleading guilty to obstruction of justice on June 23, in Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Judge Jason Park handed down the sentence. The judgment also includes a five-year term of supervised release, trailing his incarceration period. A previous indictment dating back to September 13, 2023, charged him in connection with a 2014 cold case sexual assault—and a superseding indictment following in October 2023 added the obstructing justice charge.
Originally apprehended for a 2014 sexual assault, investigators matched Spriggs' DNA collected in 2023 to both this case and another assault from 2013, following breakthroughs from a previously unidentified assailant's profile. While awaiting trial, orchestrated from behind bars, Spriggs launched an intricate scheme attempting to derail the judicial process. As per records from the D.C. Jail, he involved his then-girlfriend and associates in various illegal attempts to manipulate evidence and testimonies, setting in motion a plan to thwart his impending prosecution.
"Over hundreds of recorded phone calls and texts from the D.C. Jail, he pressured his then-girlfriend to tamper with evidence and urged associates to lie for him," detailed the U.S. Department of Justice in their announcement. As per the detailed scheme, Spriggs sought to distract the government's case through fabricated claims and coerced perjury from a close family member and others associated with him. The then-girlfriend of Spriggs, entangled in the web of deceit, has also been sentenced after confessing to attempted obstruction of justice.
The successful resolution of this case is part of an ongoing effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia’s Cold Case Sexual Assault Initiative. Launched in February 2018, the initiative's mission resonates with its outcomes—solving and charging in cold cases of sexual assault. Agencies including the MPD, FBI, United States Marshals Service, and other local law enforcement form the collaborative nexus that brought the dormant injustices back into the light. Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department joined the U.S. Attorney in commending the relentless efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Zubrensky and the investigative teams.
