On two-year anniversary of Sacramento downtown mass shooting, witnesses still hesitant

The hearing into the downtown Sacramento shooting that left six dead and 12 wounded two years ago resumed Tuesday with testimony slowed by witnesses reluctant to testify in the case.

The first witness called, Oshe White, was wounded in the melee and later failed to appear, leading to him being taken into custody and ordered held until testimony scheduled for Tuesday.

White’s attorney, Larenda Delaini, argued that he was not affiliated with any of the groups that engaged in the shootout and should be released and allowed to appear voluntarily to testify about what he saw.

“He is a complete victim in this situation in that he was shot during the melee that occurred outside the clubs,” Delaini told Sacramento Superior Court Judge Maryanne Gilliard.

She added that White is working three jobs, taking care of an aunt and two young children and has no criminal history.

Prosecutor Kristen Andersen argued that White, 28, who was booked into jail last week, has said he does not want to testify and that “holding him in custody for one more day would be appropriate given the severity of the case.”

The judge agreed, saying, “I’m very concerned about this witness showing up for court.”

Next up was Ike Harris, a cousin of Sergio Harris, one of the six people killed that night.

But as soon as prosecutor Brad Ng began his questioning by asking whether Harris had been at the scene on April 3, 2022, Harris invoked his Fifth Amendment right against testifying.

After determining that Harris planned to answer other questions the same way, Gilliard ordered he be granted immunity to testify.

“I’m ordering that you answer the questions that may be asked of you in the course of these proceedings, and that you continue to appear when I’m ordering you to appear,” she said. “Nothing that you say can be used against you, except that you are ordered to tell the truth.”

He described Sergio Harris as being like a brother to him, and said he and his cousin met up at the Blue Cue bar in midtown the evening of April 2, 2022, before heading to the clubs downtown near 10th and K streets.

He said Sergio Harris was a man with a criminal past who had gotten beyond that, and who had taken to filling his Instagram posts with photos of his family and children.

“He was a family man,” Ike Harris said as his cousin’s widow sat weeping in the second row of the courtroom. “He has a history, that we all know, but that wasn’t him in his last days of living.”

But Harris had trouble remembering many of the details from the shootout that broke out after the nightclubs closed and hundreds of people poured into the streets that night.

Even after Ng read to him from transcripts of his interview with a police detective and showed him video of him being interviewed about the incident, Harris said he simply could not remember seeing anyone carrying guns that night or other details he was asked about.

“I can’t say that,” Harris said under questioning for nearly three hours before court broke for lunch. “I don’t recall saying that.”

Ng showed a video of Ike Harris being questioned at police headquarters in July 2022 and saying “I know for a fact I saw a big dude with a gun,” but Harris testified that he had been wrong.

“I didn’t see him with a gun,” he said. “I made a mistake.”

He did recall running for cover and hiding behind a metal trash box after hearing words exchanged between two groups of people near Sharif Jewelers downtown, he said.

“I ducked, I ran because I know how this goes,” Harris said. “I’ve been a part of stuff like this, so I know groups are never a good thing, so I took cover behind a metal box for safety. ... Once voices get raised, that’s when I made my way out of the way.”

The testimony comes on the fourth day of a preliminary hearing that began in January, and reflects the difficulty authorities are having getting people to come forward in a case that prosecutors have said stemmed from a shootout among rival gangs.

There is tight security in and around the courtroom, and photographers are not being allowed to take photos or videos of witnesses’ faces unless they are from law enforcement or other experts.

Prosecutors are using the hearing in a bid to show there is enough evidence for defendants Smiley Martin, 29; his brother, Dandrae, 28; and Mtula Payton, 29, to face trial on murder charges.

The three are being held in the Sacramento County Main Jail and have pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the shooting deaths of Yamile Martinez, 21; Johntaya Alexander, 21; and Melinda Davis, 57.

Police have said the three were innocent bystanders cut down in a hail of bullets between two groups of shooters that left three others in the groups — Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; DeVazia Turner, 29; and Sergio Harris, 38 — dead from gunshot wounds.

The shootout began just after 2 a.m. downtown on a Sunday morning during which the downtown streets were crowded with people leaving area clubs and restaurants.

Court records say the shootout appeared to stem from a confrontation near Sharif Jewelers at 10th and K streets, with two groups of gang members squaring off.

Investigators recovered 114 spent shell casings along the K Street Mall, and court records say Smiley Martin fired 28 rounds. He allegedly used a fully automatic Glock 19 handgun with a laser sight and an extended, 30-round magazine that he tossed away at 1029 K St. after being wounded in the shootout.

Court papers say Dandrae Martin and Payton also were seen on video firing handguns as the gun battle raged.