CALIFORNIA- According to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office, Smiley Martin, the man suspected of acting as a triggerman in the deadliest mass shooting in Sacramento history, which claimed six lives, passed away on Wednesday due to methadone poisoning.
In the April 2022 shooting at the intersection of 10th and K streets, which also left 12 other people injured, Martin was charged alongside two other individuals, one of which was his brother Deandrae Martin.
Prosecutors claimed the brothers and Mtula Payton were members of two warring gangs that opened fire on innocent bystanders as they were leaving local clubs, leading to several murder and attempted murder charges against the trio.
Autopsy Result Made Public
Additionally, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office ruled Martin’s death to be an accident. When the autopsy results will be made public is unknown. Rosa Vega, the Sacramento County Coroner, declined to comment when asked about the timeline.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office reports that on June 8, during a cell check, Martin was discovered unconscious in his cell in the East-300 pod of the downtown Sacramento County Main Jail.
A Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, Sgt. Amar Gandhi, stated on Wednesday that the investigation into Martin’s death at the jail was still ongoing.
In the gunfight between two rival gangs, Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21, Johntaya Alexander, 21, and Melinda Davis, 57, lost their lives. DeVazia Turner, 29, Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32, and Sergio Harris, 38, who were allegedly implicated in the shooting, were also slain.
Mass shooting
Two months before to the fatal gunfight, Smiley Allen Martin was released from jail after serving five of his ten-year term. His release, which may have been a result of his excellent behavior and the time he spent in county jail, ignited a political controversy regarding rehabilitation and sentencing.
In Sacramento Superior Court, Dandrae Martin and his co-defendant Payton are currently in a preliminary hearing. On September 11, the court will reconvene to hear the lead mass shooting detective’s continued testimony.
Martin’s death was one of five prisoners’ deaths in the Sheriff’s Office’s care during the course of 11 weeks this year. Six persons were detained by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office last year on suspicion of sneaking drugs into jail in exchange for cash.
This led Sheriff Jim Cooper to propose a redesign of the jail’s medical program. Cooper declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding Martin’s death through a representative for the Sheriff’s Office.
