Blame game in U-Md. student's death

Last Tuesday, police found 22-year-old University of Maryland student Justin DeSha-Overcash dead inside a home he was renting on the 8800 block of 38th Street, across the street from the University's campus. DeSha-Overcash's death, the 11th in a series of 13 in 13 days to begin the year in Prince George's County, appeared to be a cut-and-dry case: Police initially believed that DeSha-Overcash was killed during a robbery attempt; when they later discovered marijuana, a digital scale and drug-packaging materials inside the home, they labeled DeSha-Overcash a drug dealer and chalked up his murder as but one of several drug-related killings that plagued the county during the first two weeks of 2011. Col. Kevin Davis of the Prince George's County police told ABC7 that DeSha-Overcash's "chosen lifestyle more likely than not contributed significantly to this homicide."

This was all apparently news to DeSha-Overcash's mother, not to mention the impetus for the university's chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy to spring into action.

[Continue reading Aaron Morrissey's post at DCist.com.]

Aaron Morrissey blogs at DCist. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.