On November 30, 2017, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an undocumented immigrant, was found not guilty in the death of Kate Steinle. She was shot in July 2015 by Garcia Zarate as she was walking with her father in San Francisco on Pier 14. He was acquitted of murder and involuntary manslaughter charges and assault with a deadly weapon and was instead convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He could potentially serve a three-year sentence for that. His defense was that the shooting was accidental and the bullet ricocheted off the ground and traveled about 80 feet before hitting Steinle.
Garcia Zarate had been deported from the US 5 times prior to the shooting. Before the shooting, SF officials had released him from custody instead of turning him over to immigration authorities. So after the jury's decision was released, the attorney general said: "San Francisco's status as a sanctuary city was largely to blame for what happened that summer day". A lot of people were against the decision, even our own President. He tweeted: "A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people or our Country are so angry will illegal immigration."
One of the defendant's lawyers said, "From day one, this case was used as a means to foment hate, to foment division and to foment a program of mass deportation," public defender Francisco Ugarte said.Nothing about Mr. Garcia Zarate's ethnicity, nothing about his immigration status, nothing about the fact that he is born in Mexico had any relevance as to what happened on July 1, 2015."
What's your opinion on the trial decision? Were SF officials to blame for this?
I do not know the entirety of the case, but I believe this case could have turned into a witch hunt against Mexican immigrants. If it was truly an accident I am happy that he was not convicted.
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