![](https://heysocal.com/wp-content/themes/heymediadev/assets/img/logos/beacon_white.png)
![](https://heysocal.com/wp-content/themes/heymediadev/assets/img/logos/logo-white.png)
In a diversion from policies implemented when George Gascón took office, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday it has added a special-circumstance allegation against a man charged with killing his girlfriend in South Los Angeles, opening him to a possible life-without-parole prison term.
Darryl Lamar Collins, 51, of Baldwin Park, is accused of killing his 53-year-old girlfriend, Fatima Johnson, who was found in July 2021 by her daughters — bound, gagged and wrapped in a blanket — in her apartment in the 7600 block of South Western Avenue.
Her family called paramedics, who pronounced her dead at the scene.
Collins was charged with murder, with the case including only allegations that he had two prior convictions — one in 1992 for attempted robbery and one in 1998 for a double murder. According to prosecutors, Collins was granted parole in the double-murder case roughly one year before he allegedly killed Johnson.
The case is one of several that have been cited by organizers of a recall effort against Gascón, who announced when he took office that he would no longer file special-circumstance allegations that can lead to life-without-parole prison terms or death sentences. Critics said the lack of such an allegation meant that Collins would again be eligible for eventual parole if convicted.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, however, a review of the case by an Alternative Charging Evaluation Committee prompted prosecutors to amend the case against Collins, adding a special-circumstance allegation of a previous first-degree murder conviction.
Collins is scheduled to be arraigned on the amended complaint Thursday in downtown Los Angeles.
Adding the allegation means Collins is now facing a possible sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“An internal committee of experienced attorneys with diverse backgrounds has reviewed the facts of this case and determined that, in this extremely rare instance, a policy deviation was warranted and approved the filing of a special circumstance allegation,” Gascón said in a statement announcing the move. “The facts of this case are extraordinary and demanded further review based on our charging policies.”
Organizers of the effort to recall Gascón announced Wednesday they have surpassed the 566,857 petition signatures needed to force a recall vote. The signature-collecting effort will continue, with organizers planning to gather as many as 700,000 by the July 6 deadline, to ensure the petitions have the required number of valid signatures.
We are able to provide high-quality political journalism to you for free thanks to our advertisers. So that you can continue to enjoy HEYSOCAL's in-depth reporting, we ask that you please turn off your ad blocker and come on in, free of charge.
Subscribe to our newsletter for this giveaway and many more. Also, stay in the loop for SoCal news and updates.
Your subscription has been confirmed. You've been added to our list and will hear from us soon.
Your request has been confirmed! We will get in touch with you shortly.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Essential Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Essential Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
You can find more information about our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy