Bite Mark Nets Slayer Term of 27 Years to Life
A drug supplier who was convicted of murder after a dentistry expert matched impressions from his mouth to a bite mark he left on his victim was sentenced Thursday to 27 years to life in state prison.
Prosecutors said that Darrin Garrett, 23, went to a South-Central Los Angeles “rock house” operated by Eric Roberts, 19, last March and that the two began fighting over $2,000 in cocaine that Garrett believed was owed him. In the course of the argument, Garrett repeatedly bit Roberts before shooting him three times, Deputy Dist. Atty. Anthony G. Patchett said.
“He did a really good bite on his right wrist,” Patchett said. “That was the major evidence.”
A dentistry expert testified that he found “49 points of similarity” between the bite mark and impressions taken from Garrett’s mouth. “He (the expert) testified this was one of the best bites he’d ever observed,” Patchett said.
A Superior Court jury convicted Garrett on Nov. 21.
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