Mistrial Declared on Murder Charges but Convictions Secured in Sacramento K Street Shooting Trial

A mistrial was declared Tuesday in the trial of Mtula Payton and Dandrae Martin over the April 2022 shooting on K Street in Sacramento that killed six people and injured at least a dozen. The jury convicted both men of being felons in possession of firearms but could not reach a consensus on the murder charges. Sacramento County prosecutors will decide whether to pursue a retrial on those counts.

Payton and Martin had faced up to 15 years to life in prison. The trial lasted more than two months and included dozens of hours of footage of the shooting along with testimony from responding officers, witnesses and the defendants. Opening arguments began in late April, and the jury took a two-week break in early July.

The shooting occurred in the early morning hours of 3 April 2022. The victims were Johntaya Alexander, 21; Melinda Davis, 57; Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21; Sergio Harris, 38; Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; and DeVazia Turner, 29. Martin and his brother Smiley Martin were arrested days after the incident.

Payton was arrested in Las Vegas in late May 2022. Smiley Martin was found dead in his cell at Sacramento County Main Jail in 2024 from a methadone overdose. Payton testified that he joined a local gang at age 11 and was afraid for his life during the shooting.

“Everybody was running in the same direction as me. People were getting shot around me. I was scared,” he told his attorney. Martin testified that he was never affiliated with a gang but that his deceased brother was.

Prosecutors initially charged the pair with first-degree murder before downgrading the charges to second-degree murder. Leia Schenk, a victims’ advocate supporting three of the families, said after the verdict that the families cannot begin to heal because the process is starting over.