La Plata, MD – A young man who is living with the consequences every day of having caused an accident that took the life of his cousin, will have to visit all seven high schools in Charles County and talk about what a poor choice he made so that others may benefit from his mistake.

Charles County Circuit Court Judge Thomas R. Simpson Jr. imposed the sentence Wednesday, March 18 for Michael Westly Spriggs III, 22 of Waldorf, who was before the judge for sentencing on a vehicular manslaughter case springing from a 2012 accident.

“This is a very hard case,” Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Francis Granados told Simpson. “These types of cases are never easy.”

Granados detailed how Cpl. Hopkins of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office determined the accident resulted when Spriggs was driving at speeds of between 87 and 106 miles per hour in a neighborhood where the posted limit is 40.

The defendant lost control of the vehicle and crossed the median into oncoming traffic where he was “T-boned” by an SUV, saying investigation suggested Spriggs might have been racing with two women in another SUV.

“There is a conflict with the state about how it occurred,” Granados stated, adding that Spriggs maintains the steering wheel locked up just before the crash. “This is contradicted by the evidence. The two women in the other SUV stated they were at a stop light when they saw the defendant lose control. What we’re left with is what the evidence shows.

“This case has been described as a tragedy,” Granados said. “The state has to prosecute these cases. It can’t be ruled by emotion. Mr. Spriggs broke the law. He comes from a very supportive family, but there has to be a consequence here.”

Defense attorney Melissa Miller told the court she had hired an expert, a former police officer from Montgomery County, who determined Spriggs’ speed to be more in the 65 to 70 range.

She said Spriggs had wanted to become a police officer like his father.

“He knows now he will never be able to follow in his father’s footsteps as a law enforcement officer,” Miller told the court.

She said her client had taken full responsibility for what happened and was himself seriously injured in the crash. She asked the court for lenience, asking “for a sentence that will make this family whole.”

Simpson said he read letters written by family and friends and said he was “fairly moved” by the support the defendant received.

“I don’t think supervised probation is something necessary in your case,” the judge said. “I don’t think a jail sentence is the appropriate thing either.”

The judge sentenced Spriggs to 18 months in the Charles County Detention Center, suspending all of the sentence but four days, and adding three years of unsupervised probation upon his release.

“A condition of your probation will be that you go to every high school in the county, there are seven,” he said. “I want you to talk to as many students about your experience, about what happened that night and how it disrupted your life.”

The judge gave Spriggs until Dec. 31 to complete this task, and added 100 hours of community service to the mix in addition to his talks in schools.

Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com