A Sacramento judge rejected efforts by two defendants accused in the K Street mass shooting to reduce their murder charges to manslaughter, while testimony continued Friday on whether the case should be moved out of Sacramento.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman denied the defense motion in a 10-page written ruling issued Jan. 20, rejecting arguments that Deandre Martin and Mtula Payton acted in self-defense during the shootout at 10th and K streets early April 3, 2022, that killed six people and wounded 12. Defense attorneys argued the deadly gunfire between alleged gang rivals was a “spontaneous event” and that Martin and Payton returned fire to defend themselves.
Martin and Payton each face three counts of murder in the barrage that killed bystanders Yamile Martinez, 21; Johntaya Alexander, 21; and Melinda Davis, 57, according to prosecutors. Sacramento County prosecutors said three others killed — Joshua Hoye-Lucchessi, 32; Sergio Harris, 38; and Devazia Tuner, 29 — were involved in the shootout.
Deandre Martin’s brother, Smiley Martin, 29, who was also charged in the shootings, died in Sacramento County Main Jail in June 2024. Charges against him were later dropped.
Bowman wrote in his ruling that “both sides acted with deadly force at the same time.”
The ruling also cited statements from earlier court testimony that “everyone was armed and ready to go” before shots rang out, as well as testimony from gang experts and social media posts, concluding that the “parties were willing to engage in a gun battle no matter who was out on the street.”
The issue before the court Friday was whether a trial nearly four years after the deadly downtown shootings should be held in Sacramento. Defense expert Craig Haney, a UC Santa Cruz social psychologist, testified that extensive and prejudicial news coverage following the shooting — widely considered the worst mass shooting in the city’s history — had tainted the local jury pool.
“The community is bombarded with prejudicial pretrial publicity that talks about community-wide trauma,” Haney said. “This was tried as ‘Sacramento’s gang problem.’ It changes the entire nature of neutrality if the press has already produced these things without objection.”
Haney cited a survey he conducted earlier this year of 200 Sacramento-area residents about their knowledge of the case. About a quarter of respondents who recognized the case said they changed their behavior afterward, including avoiding downtown Sacramento. Nearly 40% said the men were “probably guilty,” Haney testified, while about 22% said they were “definitely guilty.”
“The correct answer is, ‘I don’t know,’ Haney said. “There is a tremendous amount of prejudgment here.”
Bowman said he would take the matter under submission and rule at a later date. If the trial stays in Sacramento, it is expected to start March 30.
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Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.