Sacramento shooting suspect appears in court after two months on the run
Mtula Payton made his first court appearance Thursday on murder charges related to the April 3 gang shootout in downtown Sacramento, a hearing that had been delayed by him being on the run for nearly two months before he was captured in Las Vegas last month.
Payton, 28, entered no pleas to the various charges he faces and, afterward, attorney Michael Wise said he believed Payton may have a self-defense argument.
“I don’t have all the details yet,” Wise said, adding that he made a “special appearance” on Payton’s behalf Thursday while Payton’s family tries to finalize the details of hiring Wise. “There’s going to be hundreds of hours of video, thousands and thousands of pages of discovery.
“But, based on my initial understanding of the case, he may actually have a valid self-defense in this case.”
Wise added that the fact Payton was a fugitive is not a sign of guilt.
“Just because somebody runs away doesn’t mean they’re guilty,” he said. “They may just be scared.
“I can’t explain exactly why he ran away. I wasn’t part of that decision. But oftentimes people will run whether they’re guilty or not, especially in a self-defense case where you may have engaged in behavior that has a legal justification, but you’re still scared.”
Wise added that his client is “terrified.”
“He’s tired, he’s a little bit overwhelmed,” he said.
Payton is charged along with brothers Dandrae and Smiley Martin with three counts of murder stemming from the shootout that killed six people and wounded 12.
Prosecutors say three of those killed during the shootout between rival gang factions were innocent bystanders: Yamile Martinez, 21; Johntaya Alexander, 21; and Melinda Davis, 57.
No charges have been filed in the deaths of three men killed that night because prosecutors say they were participants in the violence, which included the firing of at least 114 rounds near a crowd of 80 people leaving the downtown clubs around 2 a.m.
Payton and the Martins both face special circumstance allegations that they committed multiple murders, a filing that could lead to a death penalty prosecution by Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert’s office.
Payton was ordered to return to court Tuesday to appear alongside the Martins for their next court hearing.
All three are being held without bail in the Sacramento County Main Jail.