{"id":410484,"date":"2026-07-24T06:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410484\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T06:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:35:09","slug":"defendant-in-k-street-shooting-case-says-he-acted-in-self-defense-after-mistrial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410484\/","title":{"rendered":"Defendant in K Street shooting case says he acted in self-defense after mistrial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defendant in K Street shooting case says he acted in self-defense after mistrial<\/p>\n

\"Andres<\/a>SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014<\/p>\n

One of the defendants in the K Street shooting case is speaking publicly after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the most serious charges, resulting in a mistrial.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mtula Payton, speaking in a jailhouse interview with KCRA 3 on Thursday night, said he acted in self-defense during the April 3, 2022, shooting in downtown Sacramento that left six people dead and several others injured.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I reacted… I didn\u2019t act. I wasn\u2019t out there intentionally trying to harm people,\u201d Payton said.<\/p>\n

A jury on Tuesday failed to reach a unanimous decision on whether Payton and the other defendant, Dandrae Martin, were guilty of murder in what remains Sacramento\u2019s deadliest shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s two sides to this whole situation. There\u2019s two sides to every story,\u201d Payton said in the interview.<\/p>\n

Payton maintained that he did not go downtown intending to hurt anyone. <\/p>\n

He told KCRA 3 that being accused of murder has been difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a good feeling when, for a fact evidently, you didn\u2019t kill anybody, and they\u2019re saying you\u2019re a murderer,\u201d Payton said.<\/p>\n

Payton said he fired his weapon in self-defense during what he described as a chaotic altercation. At the same time, he acknowledged illegally possessing a firearm as a felon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to say, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m a victim.\u2019 I\u2019m just an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. And I discharged my firearm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While admitting his role in the gun charge, Payton denied playing a role in any altercation that may have led to the shooting. He also expressed sorrow over the loss of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel bad. I feel hurt. But there\u2019s nothing that anyone can possibly say or do to bring them back,\u201d Payton said.<\/p>\n

His attorney, Reid Kingsbury, said he believes that is why jurors could not convict Payton of murder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that my client did not harbor malice. I argued that. I believe it,\u201d Kingsbury said.<\/p>\n

Kingsbury also said some jurors appeared persuaded by the self-defense argument.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the six jurors who found that he acted in self-defense, I think they used their conscience to arrive at that conclusion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Sacramento County District Attorney\u2019s Office said it will decide its next steps, which could include retrying the case.<\/p>\n

Payton said the uncertainty has weighed on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of what-ifs. There\u2019s a lot of possibilities in my head and, you know, a lot of scenarios out there that can play out,\u201d he said. \u201cLike I said, God is good. I didn\u2019t murder those people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Payton has remained in jail since his arrest in 2022.<\/p>\n

See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defendant in K Street shooting case says he acted in self-defense after mistrial SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 One of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[14852,48099,109195,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-410484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-andres-valle","tag-k-street-shooting","tag-mtula-payton","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}