A mistrial has been declared in the case of two men charged with carrying out Sacramento’s deadliest mass shooting in modern history.
Sacramento County jurors were unable to reach a verdict Tuesday on murder charges filed against Dandrae Martin and Mtula Payton in connection to the 2022 K Street mass shooting in downtown Sacramento.
They are two of the three men accused by prosecutors of killing six people and injuring 12 others in the early morning of April 3, 2022. Martin’s brother, Smiley Martin, was also charged in connection to the shooting, but died in his cell at the Sacramento County Main Jail in June 2024.
Dandrae Martin talks with attorney Linda Parisi at his first court appearance in Sacramento County Superior Court, in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, April 5, 2022.AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
Dandrae Martin and Payton's trial began in April 2026, with jury deliberations starting earlier this month.
Both men faced charges including three counts of murder. However, media outlets reported the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the first-degree murder charges last week after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision. Prosecutors elected to move forward with second-degree murder charges instead.
KCRA reports the two men were convicted on weapons charges for being felons in possession of firearms.
Following the mistrial declaration, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office told CapRadio it will “make a decision in the near future as to our next steps, which will include a decision to retry the case.”
Members of the victims’ families spoke after the trial at a press conference held by advocacy organization EMPACT outside the Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye Courthouse in downtown Sacramento.
“Whether you’re Black or white or Hispanic, it doesn’t matter; you have the right to go [to] downtown Sacramento, the capital, and enjoy yourself without the fear of violence,” said John Alexander, father of 21-year-old victim Johntaya Alexander.
Johntezha Alexander, Johntaya’s sister, was also on K Street the night of the shooting. Alexander said she put herself through the long and hard process of a trial with the hope of accountability.
“Those defendants get to walk away today with something I don’t get to walk away with and that is hope,” she said. “Hope that they will see the sun again, hope that they will breathe air again, hope that they will be free. Their families get that hope.”
“I don’t have that hope; my hope is six feet in the ground,” Alexander added.
EMPACT founder Leia Schenk said the court is expected to pick up the case again in October.
Background
The six people killed in the K Street shooting were:
- Johntaya Alexander, 21
- Melinda Davis, 57
- Sergio Harris, 38
- Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32
- Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21
- Devazia Turner, 29
Police said Alexander, Davis and Martinez-Andrade were innocent bystanders. Officials did not identify Harris, Hoye-Lucchesi and Turner as victims, saying they were involved in the shootout between rival groups.
Mourners light candles on 10th and K Street in Downtown Sacramento, on Monday, April 4, 2022.Andrew Nixon / CapRadio
Dandrae Martin was arrested April 4, 2022 on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a loaded firearm. Smiley Martin was injured in the shooting and booked on April 20. Payton was identified as a suspect nine days after the shooting, and arrested in Las Vegas on May 28.
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