SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The family of Smiley Martin, a suspect in Sacramento’s deadliest mass shooting, has no answers about how Martin died in Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office custody as the three-month anniversary of his death approaches this weekend.

Martin was charged with two others in a brazen shooting that killed six people along 10th and K streets two years ago. The 29-year-old was found unresponsive in his cell by deputies about 2:15 a.m. June 8. He had been incarcerated since April 2022 at the downtown Sacramento County Main Jail.

“The family has no information and they are worried,” said Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Reichel in a phone interview. “And they want to know.”

Prosecutors say two rival gangs opened fire on April 3, 2022, striking 18 people — 12, including Martin, ultimately lived. Martin and his two co-defendents did not face charges related to the deaths of three victims who were alleged to be shooters, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office has said.

On June 8, jail deputies provided medical treatment to Martin until medical staff and Sacramento firefighters arrived to help, but Martin died at the jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Martin died from methadone intoxication, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office said on Wednesday, also ruling the death an accident. The medicine is used to often treat drug addiction or manage pain, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

It’s unclear if Martin was prescribed methadone by jail staff, if he was given the wrong dose or if he procured it through some other means.

Elizabeth Zelidon, a spokeswoman for Sacramento County Department of Health Services, declined to answer questions and cited a federal patient privacy protection law.

Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, declined to answer The Bee’s questions about why Martin had methadone, how he acquired enough of the medication to cause an overdose and why deputies did not manage to seize it prior to the incident.

Gandhi said the investigation is ongoing and a federal patient privacy law prevents him from speaking. Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper declined to comment Wednesday.

It’s also unclear when an autopsy for Martin will be released. Sacramento Coroner Rosa Vega did not answer questions Wednesday and Thursday about the timeline for the release and why the coroner has not disclosed a report.

Five inmates in downtown Sacramento County Main Jail have died in sheriff’s office custody in 11 weeks.

In the most recent case, two men were found unresponsive in their cell on July 26. Asiah Washington, 26, died from a suspected fentanyl overdose while his cellmate was revived with Narcan.

The other three inmate deaths occurred on May 5, May 12 and June 8 at the downtown facility; another man died June 28 at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove.

Martin, his brother Deandrae Martin and Mtula Payton also faced charges in the downtown shooting. Prosecutors formally dropped charges Aug. 16 against Smiley Martin after he died during the ongoing preliminary hearing.

Testimony in the preliminary hearing will resume Sept. 11 with the lead detective investigating the mass shooting scheduled to take the stand.

Meanwhile, Reichel, the attorney for Martin’s family, said Sacramento County has not been in touch with him or Martin’s family. In a letter to the county, Reichel wrote a void of information has prevented Martin’s mother from mentally and emotionally processing how and why her son died.

“They are suffering,” Reichel said in a phone interview.

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