Murder trial starts for man who fed immigration debate

SAN FRANCISCO — A Mexican national who touched off a debate on illegal immigration when he fatally shot a woman on a San Francisco pier fired the gun on purpose, a prosecutor said Monday in her opening statement at his trial.

Deputy District Attorney Diana Garcia showed the gun to the jury and said a ballistics expert will testify that the only way to fire it is to pull the trigger.

“It’s a very reliable, highquality gun,” Garcia said. “It’s one that won’t go off on accident.”

Defendant Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, 54, has acknowledged shooting Kate Steinle in the back while she was walking with her father on the pier in 2015.

Garcia Zarate has said the shooting was accidental and that he was handling a handgun he found wrapped in a T-shirt under a bench on the pier when it accidentally fired.

The shooting touched off a political furor during last year’s presidential race, with President Donald Trump citing Steinle’s death as a reason to toughen U.S. immigration policies.

Garcia Zarate is charged with second-degree murder, which could result in a sentence of 15 years to life in prison if he is convicted.

Garcia Zarate had been deported five times and was homeless in San Francisco when he shot Steinle, 32. He had recently completed a prison sentence for illegal re-entry to the U.S. when he was transferred to the San Francisco County jail to face a 20-year-old marijuana charge.

Prosecutors dropped that charge, and the San Francisco sheriff released Garcia Zarate despite a federal immigration request to detain him for deportation.