On the night of January 2, 2002, 22-year-old Robert Irvin Morrison was shot and killed inside a second-floor apartment in the 3400 block of Allerton Court in Dumfries, Virginia. His 22-year-old roommate, Romanno Avellino Head, was also killed and a third 22-year-old man, Rutherford Berry, was shot in the head but survived and was able to call police. Investigators described the attack as drug-related and said they were exploring whether the victims were set up to be robbed and killed during a drug deal.

The probe led to charges against two men, Joshua Wayne Andrews and Jamel Crawford. Prosecutors charged Andrews with capital murder in the deaths of Morrison and Head. Crawford testified for the prosecution in a plea deal that spared him the death penalty; the surviving victim, Rutherford Berry, also testified. A jury convicted Andrews of capital murder and sentenced him to death, though that sentence was later overturned by the Supreme Court of Virginia.