Short sentence in Steinle case; arraignment expected
Man acquitted of killing faces 2 federal firearm counts
A homeless immigrant acquitted of killing Kate Steinle on San Francisco’s Pier 14, but found guilty on a lesser gun charge, was sentenced to time already served Friday, clearing the way for him to face two pending federal firearm charges.
Jose Ines Garcia Zarate will be turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service and is expected to be arraigned in San Francisco federal court early next week.
Well-known attorney J. Tony Serra will represent Garcia Zarate on federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and being an undocumented immigrant in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
After Friday’s hearing, Serra called the charges against his client “retaliatory” and a “vindictive prosecution,” stemming
from the immigration policy of the Trump administration.
“This is a case that ultimately will be summed up that a vote for guilty in the federal case is a vote for Trump, and a vote for not guilty correlates to what our community has already indicated,” he said.
Garcia Zarate was indicted by a federal grand jury less than a week after he was acquitted on Nov. 30 on murder and manslaughter charges in the Steinle case. The case was launched into the national spotlight after it was revealed after his arrest that Garcia Zarate was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico facing a sixth deportation.
He had been brought to San Francisco to face a decades-old marijuana charge after being released from federal prison in Southern California. The drug charge was swiftly dismissed and he was released in April 2015 under the city’s sanctuary policy.
Then-candidate Donald Trump used Steinle’s July 1, 2015, death in his presidential campaign, calling for stricter immigration policies and an end to sanctuary cities. Now-President Trump called the jury’s acquittal on the homicide charges “disgraceful.”
The same day the jury acquitted Garcia Zarate in Steinle’s killing, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a statement condemning the city’s sanctuary policy and its “decision to protect criminal aliens.”
Five days later, Sessions’ Justice Department filed the federal charges against Garcia Zarate. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison before being deported.
Serra said he plans to file a motion to dismiss the federal charges on double jeopardy grounds.
During Friday’s sentencing hearing, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Samuel Feng also denied a motion for a new trial by Garcia Zarate’s attorney in the state case.
Matt Gonzalez, chief attorney for the city’s public defender’s office, argued, among other things, that the jury was not properly instructed that “momentary” possession of a firearm was not necessarily a crime.
During the sensational six-week trial, Gonzalez argued that Steinle’s killing was an accident, and the gun went off after Garcia Zarate found it wrapped in a cloth under a bench on Pier 14.
Evidence presented at trial showed the bullet had ricocheted off the pier 12 to 15 feet in front of Garcia Zarate before traveling 78 more feet and hitting Steinle in the heart as she walked with her father.
The pistol had been stolen four days earlier from a federal agent’s car along the Embarcadero.
Garcia Zarate was arrested shortly after Steinle’s death. He was sentenced Friday to the maximum three-year term on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, but his time in jail gave him enough credits to cover the sentence.
District Attorney George Gascón said his office agreed with Feng’s ruling on the motion for a new trial and the sentencing.
“I want to express the sorrow and how bad we feel for the family,” he said. “There will be some closure at least.”