SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One year later, Sacramento’s deadliest mass shooting continues to shape discussions in the California Capitol. They revolve around one question: would lives have been saved if one of the suspects had served out his full prison sentence?
California voters in 2016 created the opportunity for inmates to reduce their time behind bars. They passed Proposition 57, a ballot measure intended to draw down the state’s prison population. It allowed inmates convicted of violent and nonviolent crimes to more quickly earn credits through rehabilitative programs and leave custody sooner.
The program received fresh attention in 2022. That’s because Smiley Martin — one of the suspects facing charges in the April 2022 shooting that killed six people at 10th and K streets — was able to combine these credits to cut his 10-year domestic violence sentence to about five years.
