Dorchester man admits he stabbed an East Boston man to death in 2016

Darius Berry, 20, admitted today that he fatally stabbed Gage Smith during a fight he originally had nothing to do with on Aug. 17, 2016, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Berry pleaded guilty to manslaughter and accepted a sentence of 12 to 15 years in prison, the DA's office reports. He had been scheduled for trial on a charge of second-degree murder, which would have meant life in prison if he were convicted.

According to the DA's office:

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.