Darryl Lamar Collins was released from prison in 2020 under youthful offender parole laws after serving just half his sentence for two murders

LOS ANGELES - Darryl Lamar Collins was sentenced today to life without the possibility of parole for the murder of his girlfriend Fatima Johnson - a killing that came just 364 days after he was released from prison for two previous murders.

"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," Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said. "This case shows exactly what can happen when someone with a history of extreme violence is released from prison early. We can only hope that three families who have experienced unimaginable loss find some measure of peace knowing he will never again be back in our communities."

Collins (dob 10/2/70) of Los Angeles was found guilty on Feb. 19 of first-degree special circumstance murder. He was sentenced by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Craig Veals at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

Collins had previously been convicted of two separate murders in 1995 and was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 25 years to life. However, he was released after serving 25 years - half of his sentence - under youthful offender parole provisions enacted by the state legislature in 2017, raising the cutoff for youthful offender parole from age 23 to age 25.

At the time of the earlier two killings, Collins was 24 years old. District Attorney Hochman stated: "Had the state legislature not changed the law in 2017, almost 20 years after Collins' sentencing, raising the age cutoff from 23 to 25 for youthful offender parole, Collins would have been behind bars rather than on the street and able to senselessly and brutally take another innocent life."

On Sept. 17, 1995, 28-year-old Derrick Reese was using a payphone when Collins carjacked him. After taking the vehicle, Collins backed up and shot Reese at least twice, killing him.

On Sept. 28, 1995, Collins entered a diner in Inglewood where 44-year-old Thomas Weiss was working as a cashier. Collins held Weiss at gunpoint and demanded money. When Weiss did not comply, Collins shot him in the face, killing him.

Both victims were random strangers, murdered 11 days apart. On January 15, 1998, Collins was sentenced to 50 years to life imprisonment.

On July 2, 2021, less than a year after his release from prison, Collins killed Johnson in her apartment in the 7600 block of South Western Avenue. Johnson, 53, was found by her daughters and best friend bound, gagged and wrapped in a blanket.

Her cause of death was asphyxia due to neck pressure and possible smothering. Her wrists and ankles were tightly bound with shoelaces and duct tape, she was gagged with underwear, and duct tape was placed over her mouth and nose. Collins then stole her cell phone, jewelry and Lexus. Within hours of the murder, he pawned two of her necklaces and sold her vehicle for drugs.

Johnson, a mother of six and grandmother of eight who worked in a nursing home, had been sober for eight years. She was pursuing her nursing license at the time of her murder.

Case BA498678 was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Katrina Anderson and Noelle Brown of the Family Violence Division and investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.

"Thanks to the work of Deputy District Attorneys Katrina Anderson and Noelle Brown and our Family Violence Division, Darryl Collins will spend the rest of his life in prison and our communities are safer for it," District Attorney Hochman said.