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One of the Sacramento mass shooting suspects was paid more than $7,000 by the county in a settlement just weeks before the shooting.
“The county’s decision to settle was purely economic, as the trial date was approaching and it was likely the trial would be pushed out for many months given the court calendar backup due to COVID. A decision was made to put an end to the case, as the costs going forward would multiply,” a county spokesperson said of Martin Smiley’s settlement, according to CBS Sacramento.
Smiley Martin has a criminal history dating back to 2013, including his most recent sentencing in 2018 to 10 years in prison for domestic violence and assault with great bodily injury. He was sentenced after he pushed his way into his girlfriend’s home, punched her, dragged her from the residence by her hair and whipped her with a belt.
This Feb. 6, 2022, booking photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Smiley Allen Martin, two days before he was released to Sacramento County probation for his sentence on charges of corporal injury and assault likely to cause great bodily injury. Martin was arrested Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in connection with a mass shooting that killed six people in Sacramento, Calif. Martin is the brother of Dandrae Martin, the first suspect taken into custody in the investigation. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)
(California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)
SACRAMENTO MASS SHOOTING SUSPECT RELEASED FROM PRISON EARLY WEEKS BEFORE TRAGEDY, HAS VIOLENT PAST
He claimed in a lawsuit in 2018 that a jail guard at the Sacramento County jail was responsible for rival gang members attacking him, CBS Sacramento reported.
“I had hot water thrown on me and second degree burns,” he wrote in the lawsuit. “I was hurt and feel he left me in a dangerous predicament.”
Martin represented himself in the lawsuit and claimed the guard threatened him after he made his grievances public and said he was not offered medical attention immediately following the attack.
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The county settled the case, giving Martin $7,500, according to CBS Sacramento.
“It’s really difficult to sue, and to prevail is just as difficult,” Sacramento Attorney Mark Reichel told the outlet. “The laws are kind of slanted toward the correctional officers.”
“No matter how reprehensible that the public may feel of someone, we as a society in America don’t therefore torture, we don’t violate their rights,” explained Reichel.
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Smiley Martin was arrested this month in connection to the mass shooting that left six dead and 12 others injured on April 3. His brother, Dandrae Martin, was the first suspect to be arrested in the case.
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The shooting unfolded just weeks after he was released from his 10-year sentence in February. He was released even after a parole board rejected his bid for early release last May, after prosecutors said the 2017 felony assault against his girlfriend along with convictions for possessing an assault weapon and thefts posed “a significant, unreasonable risk of safety to the community.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
