Defense in Steinle killing seeks gun testimony
Attorneys for the Mexican immigrant accused of murdering Kate Steinle on San Francisco’s Pier 14 — a shooting that sparked an uproar over immigration policies — are seeking to compel the federal ranger whose stolen firearm was used in the killing to testify in the coming trial.
Bureau of Land Management Ranger John Woychowski, 37, is the only person who knows the history of the Sig Sauer .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol that was stolen from his car in downtown San Francisco three days before the shooting, attorneys for Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez argued in court Friday.
Woychowski’s testimony, they said, would provide vital information about the condition of the weapon and could support their contention that the July 1, 2015, shooting was an accident. The defense says the shot that struck Steinle traveled 100 feet and ricocheted off the ground, denting the bullet.
“Mr. Woychowski is a percipient witness in the matter,”
said Deputy Public Defender Francisco Ugarte. “He’s the last known person to have held the weapon before it was used on the pier. He knows about the condition, how the weapon was stored, the history of the weapon itself.”
Steinle, 32, was strolling with her father along the Embarcadero on Pier 14 when a bullet pierced her back and went through her heart. Prosecutors charged Lopez-Sanchez, 54, with murder, saying he deliberately fired the gun along the crowded pier.
Defense attorneys subpoenaed Woychowski to testify, but the U.S. Department of Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management, said in a letter to Chief Attorney Matt Gonzalez of the public defender’s office that department policy was “not to allow its employees to testify or to produce department records either upon request or subpoena.”
The Interior Department wrote that Gonzalez must submit a written request justifying why Woychowski’s testimony is relevant. The department said it will consider “the appropriateness of the testimony” and whether that information could be obtained from another source before allowing Woychowski to testify.
Bureau of Land Management officials did not respond to requests for comment.
“He is pretty fundamental to the case and in the narrative of the case,” Gonzalez said outside court. “We have no interest in harassing him. Before issuing the subpoena to him, we made numerous efforts to call him. We have emailed him. He did not respond to any of these respectful, professional overtures.”
Lopez-Sanchez had been on track for a sixth deportation after serving 46 months in prison for felony re-entry into the country, but he was released from San Francisco jail three months before the Pier 14 killing rather than being turned over to immigration agents under the city’s sanctuary policies. Steinle’s death sparked a push against the policies behind his release.
Lopez-Sanchez had been transferred from federal custody to the city jail in March 2015 on an old warrant alleging he fled marijuana charges in 1995. When prosecutors discharged the case, the San Francisco Sheriff ’s Department released him despite a federal request to hold him for deportation.
Legislation known as “Kate’s Law” that would boost punishment for people who repeatedly enter the country illegally and a separate measure that seeks to pressure cities to abandon sanctuary policies recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Lopez-Sanchez’s trial could begin as early as next month. Gonzalez said he hopes jurors will be able to separate the controversial immigration issue from the facts of the case.
“In the same way Americans may be charged with a crime in other countries that they are either visiting legally or have overstayed their visas, they do not want their immigration status to be the deciding factor in whether or not they’re going to win on the merits of the case,” Gonzalez said. “As the attorneys for Mr. LopezSanchez, we don’t want that to be the primary issue here.”