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Two brothers have been arrested in connection with the concert shooting that killed six people during an early morning in Sacramento, California. One of the brothers, Smiley Martin, who was injured and is still in the hospital had been released early from prison in February of this year. Both of the brothers had long prison records including a documented history of violence against women.
SFist reports:
The two brothers who are so far the only suspects in Sunday’s mass shooting in downtown Sacramento were both multiply convicted felons who had been released from prison in the last two years. The older brother, Smiley Martin, was allegedly seen in a live Facebook video brandishing a weapon in the hours before the shooting, and the DA’s office is already pointing to their vehement opposition to his recent release…
One of the dozen people injured in the melee was 27-year-old Smiley Martin, who remains hospitalized but who will be booked on charges of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun as soon as his condition improves. His brother, 26-year-old Dandrae Martin, was booked early Monday as a “related suspect” on charges of assault with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Neither man has yet been charged with the deaths of any of the six people killed…
It seems that both Martin brothers have histories of pimping and/or forcing women into prostitution. The charges that landed Smiley Martin in prison in 2018 with the 10-year sentence stemmed from an incident in which he “located hiding in her bedroom closet and hit her repeatedly with a closed fist on the face, head, and body, causing visible injuries.” Martin then allegedly dragged the woman by her hair to a waiting car, and prosecutors had text-message evidence that he had coercing her into sex work and training her in how to accept payment.
The younger brother, Dandrae Martin, has a similar history, and had been released from a prison in Arizona in 2020 after being convicted of assaulting a woman in a hotel room in 2016.
In May of 2021, when Smiley Martin was up for parole, Sacramento DA Anne Marie Schubert’s office actually sent a letter opposing his release.
According to reporting from the Sacramento Bee:
“Inmate Martin’s criminal conduct is violent and lengthy,” Deputy District Attorney Danielle Abildgaard wrote in a two-page letter to the Board of Parole Hearings on April 29, 2021, opposing his release…
“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,” Schubert’s office wrote last April. “He has no respect for others, for law enforcement or for the law.
“If he is released early, he will continue to break the law.”
The letter appeared to have worked at the time, as the parole board denied Smiley’s parole in May 2021. However, Smiley ended up being released on parole in February of 2022. It isn’t entirely clear why he was released, but there has been some suggestion that his release may be connected to an “emergency” rule instituted by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation last year that changed how good behavior credits were applied to reduce sentences.
At the time that the change was made, a group of 41 California DAs led by Sacramento DA Schubert opposed it, warning that it would help release violent criminals.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported:
More than 40 district attorneys — including those from Marin, Napa and Solano counties — are petitioning against the potential early release of 76,000 inmates from California state prisons.
The district attorneys, led by Sacramento DA Anne Marie Schubert, filed a petition with the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Thursday, requesting the repeal of temporary emergency regulations awarding additional credits to more than 76,000 inmates that could potentially lead to their early release, according to a statement from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
The regulations were passed under a “claim of emergency” and would result in the early release of “some of California’s most violent criminals,” according to the statement from Schubert’s office.
Of course, there were two people that didn’t join the others in opposing it: progressive DAs Chesa Boudin of San Francisco and George Gascon of Los Angeles.
Fox News reported:
Among the district attorneys who didn’t sign the letter are Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon and Chesa Boudin, the district attorney for San Francisco.
DA Schubert is currently running for California Attorney General against incumbent Rob Bonta who took over after Xavier Becerra left the position to become HHS Secretary in the Biden administration.
