Suspect in Sacramento Mass Shooting Received Early Prison Release Just 1 Month Prior
One man arrested in connection with a fatal shooting early Sunday in Sacramento had been released early from prison in February.
The shooting left six people dead and 12 injured, according to KGO-TV.
Smiley Martin, 27, is a suspect along with his brother Dandrae Martin, 26, police said.
Dandrae Martin has been charged with assault and illegal firearm possession. Smiley Martin, who was among those wounded, will face gun charges when he is out of the hospital, including possession of a machine gun.
“Smiley Martin and his brother, we believe, were together during this incident,” Sgt. Zach Eaton of the Sacramento Police Department said.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has admitted that in February, it released Smiley Martin after he had served just over five years of a 10-year sentence.
“Smiley Martin, 27, was received by CDCR in January 2018 from Sacramento County with a 10 year sentence for corporal injury and assault likely to cause great bodily injury,” it said in a statement.
“Prior to reaching a CDCR facility, Martin had already received 508 days of pre-sentencing credits, and received a variety of additional post-sentencing credits. He was released to Sacramento County probation in February 2022,” the statement said.
Martin’s release had first been proposed in 2021 but was stalled after the Sacramento District Attorney’s office objected.
“As shown by Inmate Martin’s pattern of conduct, he is an assaultive and non-compliant individual and has absolutely no regard for his victims who are left in the wake of numerous serious offenses,” the office wrote last April, according to the Sacramento Bee.
“He has no respect for others, for law enforcement or for the law,” the letter said, adding “If he is released early, he will continue to break the law.”
The incident will lead to new questions about the system for releasing inmates, said one observer.
“I think the question is going to be asked here, ‘What level of supervision, if any, was he under when he was released from prison?'” legal analyst Steven Clark said, KGO-TV reported.
“They’re going to look at this as, ‘Should they go back and tinker with the prison credit system so that there are certain people that do not get out this early?’ I think it’s too early to point fingers at any one governmental entity here, but it’s questions that need to be answered, particularly when you look at the carnage that occurred in downtown Sacramento,” Clark said.
In addition to the Martin brothers, Daviyonne Dawson, 31, was arrested and charged with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, Sacramento Police said, according to USA Today.
Dandrae Martin had been freed from an Arizona prison in 2020 after serving more than one and a half years for violating probation in two cases — a felony conviction for aggravated assault in 2016 and a marijuana conviction in 2018. Dandre Martin had also pleaded guilty to punching, kicking and choking a woman after she refused to work as a prostitute for him.
Dandre Martin was wanted on a misdemeanor warrant by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
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