An illegal immigrant acquitted of the 2015 murder of 32-year-old Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier has pleaded guilty in federal gun-related charges.
José Inez Garcia-Zarate, 51, a Mexican national, pleaded guilty on Monday to being a criminal in possession of a firearm and illegally in the United States in possession of a firearm. He faces up to 10 years in prison for each count plus three years on parole.
Garcia-Zarate’s guilty plea comes seven years after he was accused of fatally shooting Kate Steinle in the back as she walked down Pier 40 with her father and a family friend.
The case has sparked intense debate over immigration policy and sanctuary cities, which limit local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
José Inés García-Zarate, 51, pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of illegal possession of a weapon in connection with the 2015 murder of Kate Steinle. He is pictured above in court during a speech in 2015.
He was accused of shooting Kate Steinle (above) in the back as she walked down Pier 40 with her father and a family friend.
Garcia-Zarate said he unwittingly raised a gun wrapped in a T-shirt and he accidentally fired, hitting Steinle in the back and killing her. Her father later revealed that her last words were, “Help me dad.”
At the time, Garcia-Zarate had already been deported from the US five times to Mexico and had just served nearly four years in federal prison for illegal re-entry.
He was also homeless at the time of the murder after San Francisco released him in 2015 when local authorities decided not to file a decades-old marijuana charge.
He was released under San Francisco’s so-called sanctuary city policy, which prohibited local law enforcement from cooperating with most federal immigration investigations.
In late 2017, a San Francisco Superior Court jury acquitted Garcia Zarate of various charges, including murder. But shortly after his acquittal, federal prosecutors filed two counts of illegal weapons possession against him.
According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, a California Court of Appeals overturned Garcia-Zarata’s August 2019 conviction based on the state trial court’s failure to instruct jurors on the state’s affirmative defense against momentary possession. The ruling had no legal effect on the federal prosecution, which had already been filed.
Federal firearms charges have been pending since 2017 after U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria raised concerns about Garcia Zarate’s mental capacity. Two doctors diagnosed Garcia Zarate with schizophrenia and declared him unfit to stand trial because he was unable to follow the trial.
In January 2019, Chhabria said that Garcia-Zatara had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia during a 2009 Texas criminal trial and was only prosecuted after receiving treatment.
In 2017, Garcia-Zarate was acquitted of various charges, including murder, but federal prosecutors charged him with illegal possession of a firearm. Above is a memorial to Steinle on the embankment where she was killed.
Garcia-Zarate admitted to picking up the gun that fired the fatal shot, but said it was accidental.
He also said Garcia-Zarata was given medication while he was in Glenn Dyer Jail in Oakland, but treatment was “inexplicably discontinued” when he was transferred to Santa Rita Prison.
Last month, one of the doctors told the court that Garcia Zarate was able to stand trial after taking medication regularly.
On Monday, Chhabria asked Garcia Zarate to sum up the charges against him in order to confirm his legal capacity.
“The charges are related to the fact that I was in the country illegally and I had a firearm,” García Zarate said in Spanish through a court interpreter.
The shooting in 2015 turned into a major campaign issue in the 2016 presidential election and in several local races around the country.
Former President Donald Trump repeatedly referred to the shooting during his 2016 campaign to bolster his case for tougher immigration policies and his opposition to so-called sanctuary cities that limit cooperation with immigration authorities.
The case has sparked intense debate over immigration policy and sanctuary cities that limit local cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Grief: Liz Sullivan (left) and Jim Steinle (right), parents of Kate Steinle, fought back tears as they recalled how their daughter was gunned down in front of her father during a family outing.
The decision of a California court in a high-profile case infuriated several politicians and supporters of restricted immigration.
Trump shared a series of November 2017 tweets following Garcia-Zarata’s sentencing, calling it “a complete travesty of justice.”
In his tweets, he made a direct connection between Steinle’s death and the appearance of Garcia-Zarate in the US with “Obama’s loosely defended border.”
“Kate Steinle’s killer has come and gone across the loosely defended Obama border, always committing crimes and being violent, and yet this information has not been used in court. His excuse is a complete parody of justice. BUILD A WALL,” he wrote.
“The jury was not told that Kate’s killer was a seven-time offender. The Schumer/Pelosi Democrats are so weak on crime that they will pay a heavy price in the 2018 and 2020 elections.
“What a shame,” the president’s eldest son tweeted late Thursday after attending a Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the White House.
Donald Trump Jr. also blamed the Democrats for the verdict. Asked by Charlie Kirk in a tweet about how “an illegal alien can kill someone and get away,” Don Jr. replied, “Liberals… and the general lack of common sense so common among them.”
“Shameful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our country are so unhappy with illegal immigration.”
Trump’s eldest son, Don Jr., also commented on the verdict and supported his father’s opinion.
He wrote: “What a shame. Don’t let the rest of the country become California. If this isn’t a call to action (sic) for reasonable and law-abiding people, then I don’t know what is.”
“Liberals … and the general lack of common sense so prevalent among them.”
However, public defender Matt Gonzalez said the jury’s verdict should stand.
“The jury’s verdict should be respected,” Gonzalez said.
“They heard the evidence, discussed as a group, heard repeated testimony, looked at the physical evidence, and reached a verdict to the best of their ability, in accordance with the law.”
Gonzalez targeted Trump during his speech, reminding the president that he is also under federal investigation and deserves the same due process.
Garcia Zarate’s verdict is due on June 6.