Immigrant cleared in SF pier killing pleads not guilty to gun counts
UPDATE: 2/13/2018 12:03 p.m. A Mexican man acquitted of murder in a San Francisco shooting that ignited a national immigration debate has pleaded not guilty to U.S. gun charges.
Jose Ines Garcia Zarate appeared in federal court Tuesday to face two illegal gun possession charges. They were filed after a jury in November found him not guilty of killing Kate Steinle in 2015.
Garcia Zarate has been deported five times and served prison time for illegally re-entering the U.S.
Under San Francisco’s “sanctuary city” policy, local authorities released him from jail several weeks before the shooting, ignoring a federal request to detain him for a sixth deportation.
Garcia Zarate says he found a gun under a seat on a popular pier and that it accidentally fired when he picked it up.
He was transferred from a city jail to U.S. custody over the weekend.
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1/8/2018 12:13 p.m. The undocumented immigrant acquitted of murder in a San Francisco case that prompted immigration debate has been denied release from jail pending trial on federal gun charges.
Jose Ines Garcia Zarate appeared in federal court Monday to face two illegal gun possession charges, which were filed after a San Francisco jury acquitted him of murder for the July 2015 fatal shooting of Kate Steinle. Garcia Zarate has been deported five times and has spent a combined 17 years in U.S. prisons for three illegal re-entry convictions before the shooting.
Garcia Zarate said he found the gun that killed Steinle under a seat on a San Francisco pier. He said it accidentally fired when he picked it up.
He was transferred from San Francisco jail to federal custody over the weekend.
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A Mexican man acquitted of murder in the shooting death of a San Francisco woman that sparked a national immigration debate has been sentenced to time served for a gun charge.
A judge sentenced Jose Ines Garcia Zarate on Friday and denied his attorneys’ request for a new trial for the conviction on illegal gun possession. Garcia Zarate will now be taken into federal custody.
Garcia Zarate had been deported five times before Kate Steinle was fatally shot in 2015. San Francisco officials released him from jail several weeks before the shooting, ignoring a federal request to detain him for a sixth deportation in line with a “sanctuary city” policy.
His acquittal reignited the furor of critics who say Steinle’s death shows the need for tougher immigration policies.
