Man blames wife’s death on ‘group of women,’ Virginia cops say. Now he’s convicted
A Virginia man was found guilty in the death of his wife that he’d claimed was the result of an attack by a “group of women,” officials said.
Daniel Lawson, 25, was convicted by a jury March 4 of voluntary manslaughter in the 2024 death of his wife, Desire Buggs, Prince William County Commonweath’s Attorney Amy Ashworth said in a March 6 news release.
Prince William County police were dispatched to a hospital in Northern Virginia on Jan. 6, 2024, regarding a woman who had critical injuries from a shooting, officials said.
At the hospital, Lawson was in the waiting room, and he told officers he and Buggs were “attacked by a group of women while waiting at a stop sign in Dumfries,” according to the release.
Lawson then told officers that Buggs was sitting in the passenger seat when one of the women shot her, officials said. Buggs died at the hospital.
An investigation revealed that Lawson made several statements to officers that weren’t adding up, officials said.
Then, one of Lawson’s acquaintances told police that Lawson asked them to take a gun out of his car while he was in the waiting room at the hospital, officials said.
“This verdict represents a critical step towards justice for Desire Buggs and her loved ones but also a devastating impact of the domestic violence in our community,” Ashworth said in the release.
Lawson is scheduled to be sentenced June 6, officials said.
Buggs was described in an online memorial as someone who “shined so bright.”
“Missing our talks, phone calls and texts. Stayed in touch for years even though we lived in different states. Forever my sister,” one person said.
Dumfries is about a 30-mile drive southwest from Alexandria.
