Pubdate: Wed, 03 Mar 2004
Source: Roanoke Times (VA)
Copyright: 2004 Roanoke Times
Contact:  http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/368
Author: Jen McCaffery
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

ALLEGED OVERDOSING COULD STIFFEN MAN'S SENTENCE

When police stopped a car, Deshawn Walter Anderson was chewing something, 
police said at the time. Police said at the time that Deshawn Walter 
Anderson was chewing something when the car he was in was stopped.

In what a federal prosecutor has described as a "novel approach" to a drug 
case, a Roanoke man faces a stiffer penalty on a crack cocaine possession 
charge because he allegedly caused his own overdose.

Deshawn Walter Anderson, 23, and another Roanoke man, Earnest Junior 
Thompson, 22, each have been charged with conspiracy to distribute more 
than 5 kilograms of cocaine and a distribution of more than 5 grams of 
crack cocaine on Nov. 7 that led to serious bodily injury. The charges 
against them were unsealed recently in federal court. Thompson, who is 
still at large, also was charged with possession with intent to distribute 
cocaine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Jacobsen said that he did not know of any 
previous case in which a defendant was charged in connection with causing 
his or her own overdose. If Anderson or Thompson is convicted of that 
distribution charge, and the finding is made that the distribution caused 
death or serious bodily injury, it could result in a longer sentence.

Anderson wound up in the hospital the day the crimes allegedly occurred. 
Police had pursued a car on Liberty Road Northwest after they thought they 
saw a drug transaction. Police later found out Thompson was driving and 
Anderson was the passenger.

As the car drove, police saw the person in the passenger side of the car, 
who was later identified as Anderson, throwing things out the car window, 
according to police accounts. Police later discovered baggies of crack 
cocaine, Jacobsen said.

When police stopped the car, Anderson was chewing something, police said at 
the time. Soon after, Anderson had an adverse reaction and was taken to 
Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Authorities attributed the reaction to 
a cocaine overdose.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom