Jurors seated for K Street mass shooting trial; opening statements begin Tuesday
Four years after the deadliest mass shooting in Sacramento history, trial will begin Tuesday in the K Street shootings that killed six people and wounded 12 in downtown Sacramento in April 2022.
Jurors were selected Wednesday for the estimated 10-week trial at Tani Cantil-Sakauye Sacramento Courthouse, slated to begin weeks after the anniversary of the shootings.
Dandrae Martin and Mtula Payton each face three counts of murder in the shootout at K and 10th streets that left bystanders dead: Yamile Martinez, 21; Johntaya Alexander, 21; and Melinda Davis, 57.
The three others slain in the gunfire early April 3, 2022, — Joshua Hoye-Lucchessi, 32; Sergio Harris, 38; and Devazia Turner, 29 — were involved in the shootout, according to Sacramento County prosecutors.
Martin’s brother, Smiley Martin, 29, died in Sacramento County Main Jail in June 2024 while awaiting trial in the case. His charges were later dropped.
Defense attorneys have argued that Martin and Payton acted in self-defense during the downtown shootout with alleged gang rivals, calling the deadly exchange a “spontaneous event,” and saying Martin and Payton fired back to defend themselves.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman in February denied Martin and Payton’s motions to reduce their charges to manslaughter.
Defense attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to have the trial moved out of Sacramento, saying years of news coverage following the shooting had irreparably tainted prospective jurors.
Bowman, who will hear opening statements Tuesday, rejected the argument, keeping the trial in Sacramento and setting it for April.
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