A California man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted for the murder of his girlfriend, just a year after he was released from prison for committing two other murders.
Darryl Lamar Collins Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder
Darryl Lamar Collins, 55, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was convicted of first-degree murder for the slaying of Fatima Johnson, a mother of six and grandmother of eight. Johnson worked at a nursing home in south Los Angeles, where she was found dead on July 2, 2021.
Collins’ violent actions were highlighted in a statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which said that Johnson was asphyxiated due to neck pressure and possible smothering.
Her wrists and ankles were tightly bound with shoelaces and duct tape, her mouth and nose were covered with duct tape and underwear, and she had been gagged. Collins then stole her cellphone, jewelry, and her Lexus, which he later pawned for drug money.
Collins’ Previous Violent Past
This murder occurred almost exactly one year after Collins was released from prison, where he had been serving a sentence for the 1995 murders of two men. In September 1995, Collins committed two random murders in less than two weeks.
On September 17, he carjacked Derrick Reese, 28, shot him dead, and later, on September 28, he murdered Thomas Weiss, a 44-year-old cashier, in a diner in Englewood. Both murders were random and unprovoked.
Collins was sentenced to 50 years in prison for these killings, but in 2017, California law raised the cutoff for youthful offender parole from 23 to 25. Since Collins was 24 at the time of his crimes, he was granted parole in 2020 after serving 25 years of his sentence.
District Attorney’s Statement on Collins’ Release
Following Collins’ sentencing for Johnson’s murder, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman criticized the early release, saying, “Darryl Collins took three innocent lives. Today’s sentence isn’t just about punishment, it’s also about protection from this sociopath to ensure he will never walk free again.”
Hochman emphasized that the law change in 2017, which allowed Collins’ parole, was a direct cause of the tragedy. “Had the state legislature not changed the law in 2017… Collins would have been behind bars rather than on the street and able to senselessly and brutally take another innocent life.”
Collins’ release and subsequent actions highlight a deeply troubling aspect of the parole system, with three innocent lives lost as a result of his early release. He will now face life imprisonment for the murder of Fatima Johnson, ensuring he will not be released again. This case continues to raise questions about parole policies for individuals with a history of extreme violence.
