'Marijuana Deal Gone Bad' Lands Maryland Man Decades In Prison For Murder: State's Attorney

A 25-year-old man will have decades behind bars to contemplate his life decisions after being convicted of the murder of a man during a botched drug deal, the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday.

Silver Spring resident Malik Jefferson has been sentenced to 55 years in prison in connection to the murder of Jose Osvaldo Genao Romero in in February 2022.

Jefferson was convicted in January of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence, and robbery, for which he was sentenced to 50 years.

He was also found in violation of his probation for a child abuse case, which landed him an additional five years.

On Feb. 17, 2022, officers were called to the intersection of Bradley Avenue and Fletcher Place in Rockville, where they found Genao Romero suffering from a gunshot wound. He was rushed to an area hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

Jefferson and Jackson Garcia , 20, of Silver Spring, were both arrested and charged with his murder.

According to court documents, on the night of the fatal shooting, Jefferson and Garcia picked up Genao Romero outside of his home and drove him to the intersection where he would be killed.

“Today our hearts are with the family of the 22-year-old young man who lost his life in this case. Invariably, when we have a homicide resulting from a drug deal gone bad in Montgomery County, the drug involved is marijuana," State's Attorney John McCarthy said following Garcia's conviction last summer. "This is yet another example of that."

The entire attack was captured by a nearby surveillance camera, which led investigators to the two.

“This is yet another case of a marijuana deal gone bad in Montgomery County resulting in murder," McCarthy added. "The purchasing of marijuana within the black-market, which continues to exist despite legal changes that have taken place in the state of Maryland, remains extremely dangerous."

Following his sentencing, McCarthy expressed his pleasure about the lengthy sentence, adding that it "will protect the community from (the two) who would so needlessly take a life."

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