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| Jose Inez Garcia Zarate |
Nearly two-and-a-half years after Kate Steinle was shot by a five-times-deported illegal immigrant, a San Francisco jury finds her killer innocent of murder:
[Jose Inez] Garcia Zarate was charged from the beginning with murder, and prosecutors gave the jury the option of convicting him of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter. Jurors rejected all three.
He was convicted of being a "felon in possession of a gun", which carries a sentence of up to three years. He will get credit for the more than two years he has already been held in jail.
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| Kate Steinle |
Ever since her death in 2015, the Steinle case has been cited as the consequences of lax enforcement of immigration law. If anything, the verdict will inflame passions on both sides, leading to resumption of Trump Administration efforts to build a wall on the southern border, as well as pushback against the Sanctuary City/State movement:[bold added]
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors amended the city’s sanctuary policies after the shooting. But if a person with Garcia Zarate’s record before the Pier 14 shooting were in San Francisco jail today, and eligible for release, he would still be freed rather than turned over to immigration agents in the absence of a federal warrant.
The right to a jury trial is enshrined in the Constitution; sometimes the result is hugely unpopular, but that's the price for keeping one of the fundamental rights that protect everyone.
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