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Illegal Immigrant’s Acquittal in San Francisco Killing Draws Backlash
By Zusha Elinson | Dec. 1, 2017
By Zusha Elinson | Dec. 1, 2017
SAN FRANCISCO—The not guilty verdict in a murder case involving an illegal immigrant here continued to draw backlash from the White House and politicians around the country Friday.
A jury late Thursday acquitted Jose Ines Garcia Zarate—a repeat felon who had been deported five times—of murder and manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Kate Steinle in 2015.
“The Kate Steinle killer came back and back over the weakly protected Obama border,” President Donald Trump tweeted Friday. “His exoneration is a complete travesty of justice. BUILD THE WALL!”
San Francisco city leaders were more muted Friday. Mayor Ed Lee didn’t make any public comments about the verdict. A spokeswoman for the mayor said, “San Francisco is and will remain a sanctuary city.”
Jurors declined to speak to the media after the verdict, and the court has sealed their names.
Some San Franciscans came by the pier where Ms. Steinle was killed to pay their respects Friday. Alexandra Elvitsky, a 64-year-old San Franciscan who works at a nearby law firm, said she was upset by the verdict.
“It’s a sad day,” she said. “I think it’s a travesty.”
Ms. Elvitsky, a Democrat, said she opposed building a wall at the border with Mexico, but was upset that Mr. Garcia Zarate had been able to slip through the system.
Mr. Garcia Zarate had been freed from San Francisco County jail on an old drug charge months before the shooting, despite a request from federal immigration officials to the sheriff’s department that would have enabled the federal agency to take him into custody. The city doesn’t honor requests to hold suspects for federal immigration officials after they have been released from jail.
Mr. Garcia Zarate was convicted of illegally possessing a firearm. But the jury returned not guilty verdicts on first and second degree murder, as well as involuntary manslaughter.
A murder conviction in the case was difficult because the bullet that hit Ms. Steinle ricocheted off the ground some 80 feet away from her, said retired San Francisco prosecutor Russ Giuntini.
But Mr. Giuntini said that he believed the jury might return a guilty verdict on the lesser involuntary manslaughter charge.
That required prosecutors to prove only that Mr. Garcia Zarate was negligent with the gun, and not that he had any intent to kill, he said.
The difficulty of the case was compounded by the fact that it was tried in San Francisco where “people are going to give defendants more benefit of the doubt than they are elsewhere,” said Mr. Giuntini.
At trial, prosecutors said Mr. Garcia Zarate was playing a dangerous game of “Russian roulette” by firing the gun on the crowded pier, and that he knew exactly what he was doing.
Mr. Garcia Zarate’s public defender, Matt Gonzalez, argued the shooting was an accident. Mr. Gonzalez said his client found the gun after it had been stolen from a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger’s parked vehicle.
After the verdict, Ms. Steinle’s family told the San Francisco Chronicle Thursday that they were stunned by the news.
“We’re just shocked—saddened and shocked…that’s about it,” her father, Jim, said. “There’s no other way you can coin it. Justice was rendered, but it was not served.”
Mr. Garcia Zarate could be sentenced to up to three years behind bars for the gun conviction. He’s already spent two years in jail awaiting trial.
The Justice Department is exploring whether federal charges could be filed in the case, according to a person familiar with the government’s deliberations.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/illega...co-killing-draws-backlash-1512168040?mod=e2fb
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