Jurors watch deadly confrontation on video as downtown mass shooting trial nears end
The shooting lasted just seconds, leaving the dead and wounded in its wake.
Joshua Hoye-Lucchessi, 32, was one of the first to fall, slumping against a jewelry store’s plate-glass window on 10th Street. Hoye allegedly fired the shots believed to have triggered the massacre on April 3, 2022, after pointing his weapon down 10th Street before gunfire rang out.
Sergio Harris, 38, and Davazia Turner, 29, also were struck down in the hail of bullets. Three others — Yamile Martinez, 21; Johntaya Alexander, 21; and Melinda Davis, 57 — were caught in the crossfire and died in the barrage.
Sacramento Superior Court jurors Friday at the murder trial of Dandrae Martin and Mtula Payton watched surveillance and police videos capturing the final moments before and after the April 2022 shootings that left six dead and 13 wounded. Sacramento County prosecutors argue the massacre was a gun battle between gang rivals.
Attorneys for Martin and Payton said their clients fired in self-defense, responding to a spontaneous burst of gunfire.
Multiple videos from different perspectives tracked brothers Smiley and Dandrae Martin, Harris, Turner and Hoye before the shootings turned a crowded stretch of downtown K Street into chaos.
Sacramento Police Detective Shaun McGovern again returned to the witness stand before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman, guiding jurors through videos showing how the men moved through nightclubs and along K Street before the gunfire erupted just after closing time.
In video of a 2022 Sacramento police interview played Thursday for jurors, Sergio Harris’ cousin, Ike Harris, described his cousin’s longstanding feud with some of those involved in the deadly shooting.
“These were two groups of people who didn’t get along at all,” Ike Harries said in the interview.
That animosity came to a violent head around 2 a.m. on a crowded corner at 10th and K streets. Hoye, the Martin brothers, Mtula Payton and Turner were among those on the corner.
So was a 12-year-old street vendor working at his pushcart who was later interviewed by McGovern. He fled for cover as the gunfire started. Jurors on Friday watched video of the interview recorded at the boy’s home.
“A guy came out raging mad, then everybody started running,” the boy told McGovern on the video. “I started running when he lifted up his shirt,” he continued, describing one of the shooters. “He was right in front of the cart when it happened.”
Hoye was seen on surveillance video at 10th and K streets firing a weapon. Dandrae and Smiley Martin also opened fire before video footage showed the two, one after the other, running east on K Street. McGovern testified that Sacramento police later recovered a Glock 19 handgun, which prosecutors allege was tossed by Smiley Martin, from the scene.
Hoye also tried to run but managed only a couple of steps before he was fatally shot.
Testimony continued Friday afternoon as prosecutors moved closer to wrapping up their case. Jurors are expected to hear closing arguments and begin deliberations as early as Tuesday.
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