BOSTON, Aug. 30, 2018—The man who killed 23-year-old Gage Smith during a fight on Paris Street two years ago has pleaded guilty rather than face trial, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

DARIUS BARRY, 20, pleaded guilty to the crime of manslaughter yesterday afternoon for the Aug. 17, 2016, stabbing that claimed Smith’s life. His trial on the indicted charge of second-degree murder had been scheduled for Sept. 10. Judge Rosalind Miller sentenced him to a term of 12 to 15 years in state prison.

Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney David Bradley would have introduced evidence and testimony to prove that the victim, defendant, and others had been drinking and using drugs on the night of Aug. 16 into the morning of Aug. 17. After splitting up, a friend called Barry to the victim’s Paris Street home, where she was involved in a conflict with the defendant. When Barry and another friend arrived at the scene, the person who called him was outside on the street and Smith was upstairs in his residence.

After a verbal confrontation, the evidence would have shown, Smith came downstairs and engaged one of Barry’s friends in a physical fight. Bradley would have shown that the defendant intervened in that conflict, stabbing Smith twice in the back and once in the chest, causing fatal injuries. Smith died at Massachusetts General Hospital; Barry fled the scene but was apprehended two days later.

Jennifer Sears was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Barry was represented by attorney Steven Sack.

–30–

All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.