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Community activists and families of the victims killed in the deadly K Street mass shooting in 2022 said they were failed by the justice system after Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman declared a mistrial Tuesday in the murder trial of Dandrae Martin and Mtula Payton, the surviving suspects charged in the shooting.
After a two-month trial, Bowman instructed jurors to deliberate on second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter charges - reduced from first-degree murder charges by prosecutors last week. On Tuesday, the 12-member jury returned to court and reported it remained deadlocked. Bowman then declared a mistrial.
Standing outside the Tani Cantil-Sakauye Sacramento Courthouse downtown, bereaved family members held back tears as they criticized the decision and said they were failed by the jury, the judge and the justice system.
“I literally got a slapped in the face by this system we call justice,” John Alexander, the father of Johntaya Alexander, 21, a victim in the shooting, said. “I leave here discouraged because what if another family wants to go down there to enjoy themselves? Is this what they got to endure? Is this what they got to go through? It’s not right.”
John Alexander explained his daughter was spending a night out with her older sister when Sacramento’s deadliest mass shooting claimed her life and those of five others: Yamile Martinez, 21; Melinda Davis, 57; Sergio Harris, 38; Joshua Hoye-Lucchessi, 32; and Davazia Turner, 29.
The three women were caught in the crossfire, while the three men allegedly participated in the gunfire.
According to previous Bee reporting, John Alexander received the call that his youngest daughter had been shot and rushed downtown shortly after the shooting about 2 a.m. April 3, 2022.
But it was too late for Johntaya, whose “lifeless body” he saw lying on the ground.
One of Johntaya’s older sisters, Johntezha Alexander, spoke after her father and said she endured the “long, hard process” of the trial believing there would be accountability for her younger sister’s death.
“Y’all just took what little bit of light I did have left, what little bit of hope I did have left,” Johntezha Alexander said.
Sacramento City Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum, whose district includes downtown, midtown and East Sacramento, called the mistrial “deeply painful” for victims’ families, survivors and the broader community.
“While we respect the judicial process and the work of the jury, the inability to reach a verdict leaves many without the sense of closure they have sought for years,” Pluckebaum said in a statement. He urged the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office to move forward with transparency and compassion as it decides whether to retry the case.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said it would decide “in the near future” whether to retry Martin and Payton.
“Unfortunately, the jury was unable to reach a verdict, and a mistrial has been declared,” the office said in a statement. “We will make a decision in the near future as to our next steps, which will include a decision to retry the case.”
Berry Accius, a community activist and CEO of Voice of Youth, a Sacramento-based organization, echoed the Alexander family’s sentiments, saying he was “shocked” but not surprised by the mistrial.
“This is definitely going to leave a scar in the city,” Accius said in an interview. “Looking at our justice system, like, who pays for the carnage and the actions of that night? Now it seems like nobody pays, so it’s definitely going to leave a sour taste and in people’s minds.”
Accius said he was working as a gun violence prevention advocate when the shooting occurred and witnessed the community’s response evolve in real time.
Citing the gang connections and affiliations raised during the case, he said the K Street mass shooting became a “different conversation,” shifting from a call for unity to the sentiment of “that’s what happens if you’re gang banging” as the investigation and trial progressed.
He added that little has changed regarding gun violence in Sacramento, which he described as a continuing public health crisis.
“If it’s a public health crisis, it has not gotten the same type of funding as an opioid crisis, and the reason why is because it’s black and brown folks majority that are affected by the gun violence,” Accius said. “These situations still continue to combat our community, and still continue to plague our community, and we continue to see younger and younger kids have guns in their hands.”
The Bee’s Jennah Pendleton contributed to this story.
