Transfer for man tried in Steinle killing

The man acquitted of murder charges following the shooting death of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier in 2015 will be released from prison and transferred to federal authorities in Texas, according to his attorney.

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate pleaded guilty in March to federal charges of illegally possessing the lethal weapon. A federal judge sentenced him Monday to time served — nearly eight years — and said he could be transferred to authorities in Texas.

Garcia Zarate will likely be transferred over the next few weeks, said Tony Serra, his defense attorney.

Garcia Zarate’s case gained national attention after former President Donald Trump used the case to proclaim the dangers of illegal immigration. In 2015, 32-year-old Steinle was killed by a bullet that ricocheted off the pavement and struck her in the back while she was on a walk with her father along Pier 14.

The gun belonged to a U.S. park ranger who left it loaded and unlocked in a backpack under the seat of a sport utility vehicle. Garcia Zarate said he did not intentionally shoot it and said he found it wrapped in a towel at the pier, picked it up and immediately dropped it as it went off.

Garcia Zarate has been in jail since then. In 2017, a jury acquitted him of murder and assault. The jury convicted him of being a felon in possession of a gun.

A state appeals court overturned that conviction and said a jury should be allowed to decide whether he had only momentary possession of the weapon, which would not be a crime.

But federal prosecutors filed charges of illegal firearms possession by a felon and an illegal immigrant.

He will now be transferred to Texas to hear his immigration case for illegal re-entry. Prior to this, Garcia Zarate had been deported to Mexico five times.