By admin 
Defense attorneys at trial Wednesday in the K Street mass shooting case argued that personal disputes, rather than ongoing bad blood between rival Sacramento street gangs, triggered the April 2022 massacre that killed six people and wounded 13 others.
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Lincoln police captain and former Sacramento police gang investigator Zach Eaton testified that Mtula Payton and Dandrae Martin, surviving defendants facing murder charges, were among the players in Sacramento’s complex web of street gangs at the time of the city’s worst-ever mass shooting.
But Payton attorney Reed Kingsbury countered that Sergio Harris, who was slain in the shooting, and his cousin Ike Harris’ family include members of the Bloods, Crips and other groups, while still others declared no alliance.
Payton, he said, sported a 29th Street tattoo that showed loyalty to the local Crips but had joined Gutta Gass, a subgroup of south Sacramento’s G-Mobb street gang.
Kingsbury and Linda Parisi, representing Martin, argued that the erosion of traditional Sacramento rivalries had even led Harris to lament the days when battle lines were more clearly drawn.
If Sergio Harris had any problems with others that night, Kingsbury said, “it was personal.”
Kingsbury earlier in the trial argued that Sergio Harris, 38, was the first to open fire, fatally shooting Davazia Turner before Harris, himself, was killed.
Payton returned fire, Kingsbury argued, but did not kill bystanders Yamile Martinez, 21; Johntaya Alexander, 21; or Melinda Davis, 57.
Both Payton and Smiley Martin, the brother of Dandrae Martin, were wounded in the gun barrage that killed the three women and shooters Sergio Harris, Joshua Hoye-Lucchessi and Turner in the seconds after K Street nightclubs closed on April 3, 2022.
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Smiley Martin died in 2024 at the Sacramento County Main Jail while awaiting trial.
Eaton testified Monday about Turner’s alleged allegiances to Sacramento street gangs before his killing, pointing to social media posts, text messages and tattoos that indicated his suspected ties.
But Payton attorney Reed Kingsbury and, later, Martin attorney Linda Parisi, sparred with Eaton during cross-examination, contending that the capital city’s gangs, their offshoots and alliances were so fluid that traditional rivalries, even between longtime Bloods- and Crips-affiliated street gangs, had become increasingly irrelevant.
The defense lawyers argued that downtown, including K Street, is neutral territory, where members of various gang affiliations regularly crossed paths.
Payton and Martin’s attorneys contend they were defending themselves when they opened fire on crowded K Street just after closing time on April 3, 2022. Prosecutors say a gang-fueled gun battle caused the killings. Testimony before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman in the weeks-long murder trial could conclude as early as this week.
Eaton in testimony Monday said the neutral blocks could be a nexus for trouble with rival gangs sending “scouts” such as slain shooter Sergio Harris and cousin Ike Harris to watch out for members of opposing gangs.
Sacramento County prosecutor Brad Ng argued that Harris, Payton, brothers Dandrae and Smiley Martin, and others were actively representing their gangs when the shooting started.
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