Court throws out conviction against illegal immigrant who killed Kate Steinle


The sole conviction against the illegal immigrant who shot and killed California resident Kate Steinle, 32, has been tossed out.

Steinle was shot in 2015 in San Francisco. San Francisco is one of dozens of U.S. “sanctuary cities” that protect illegal immigrants from deportation. The shooter, a homeless Mexican man named Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate, had been deported to Mexico five times prior to the shooting and was in the U.S. illegally when he killed Steinle.

Garcia-Zarate said he unknowingly picked up the gun wrapped in a T-shirt, and that it went off accidentally. A jury found him not guilty of murder charges in 2017 and convicted him on one count of being felon in possession of a firearm.

However, on Friday, an appeals court in San Francisco said the trial judge erred in failing to give the jury the option of finding Garcia-Zarate not guilty because he possessed the weapon only for a short time.

Even with the lone conviction thrown out, Garcia-Zarate is not a free man. He faced federal charges of gun possession and being in the U.S. illegally.

According to Garcia-Zarate’s attorney, the federal trial is scheduled to begin January 13. Lawyer Tony Serra is quoted as telling Associated Press that Friday’s court decision will also give state prosecutors the chance to try Garcia-Zarate again for Steinle’s death, if they choose.

That kind of error causes reversals all the time. Then the prosecution has the prerogative of going again. The state case is a heavier case because it’s a homicide and a gun. … It’s going to be a big potential decision on what they’re going to do.

Tony Serra, attorney for illegal immigrant Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate

According to Fox News: “Three months before the killing, Garcia-Zarate was released from custody after a drug case against him was dropped. The sheriff’s office, which had ended contact between jail employees and immigration officials, ignored a request by federal authorities to hold Garcia-Zarate until they could assume custody and did not inform them that he was being released.”

Meantime, an appeals court already denied Steinle’s parents the chance to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against San Francisco.

Read more by clicking the link below:

https://www.foxnews.com/us/kate-steinle-jose-inez-garcia-zarate-california-appeals-court


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13 thoughts on “Court throws out conviction against illegal immigrant who killed Kate Steinle”

  1. I wonder if the sheriff who made such a stupid law would act the same if his wife or family were shot by such an individual? Or would he say the poor fellow needs protection so he can do it again? If he would not release a person who attacked his Family or friends isn’t that discrimination and isn’t that against the law also?
    Could he be removed from his position for willfully endangering the public? Maybe just sent to the hospital for the mentally insane?

    1. Am not sure but I think the police did something illegal when they arrested the guy because they were so angry. The court had to let him go. The media doesn’t want anyone to know that Californians can’t handle this crap so they re not reporting. I could be wrong because I read a short little blurp a while back.

  2. I ask my Congressional Rep all the time – “What would happen to me if I decided not to pay my federal or state taxes, or not pay a speeding ticket, or disobey traffic violations over and over again?” The staff on the other end of the line never answer. They have no answer. The answer is that I would be appropriately punished with fines or perhaps time spent behind bars. When we decide laws are good for only certain subsets of the population – but not for others we hurt civil society. The sheriffs and others that designate their cities as sanctuary cities hurt law abiding residents. This is a heartbreaking story and I hope the State tries this criminal again. Perhaps moving the case out of San Fran would be best. There will never be an impartial jury there. California is truly a lost cause………

  3. Shakespeare had it right, “First thing, we must kill all the lawyers.” So now we are going to have time requirements on how long you are in possession of an unlicensed weapon to determine whether the possession is illegal? This is totally nuts.

  4. If you live in California and are hard working and honest, according to the preening left wing intellectual and moral dilettantes who run the state, you have no rights.under the law other than to be slammed at tax time to pay for a malevolent authoritarian state government which literally embraces every form of depravity.
    After all, none of us has free will so there is no such thing as a criminal. There are only those who suffer from one or more forms of economic and social deprivation and the state must do everything in its power to transfer money from the ‘lucky haves’ to the ‘unlucky have nots’ regardless of the actions of the latter. If the left and the Democrats continue to run the state unchecked, in my view, California will be Venezuela within a very few years.

  5. Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.
    J B Yates.

    1. Carl – I was at a loss to write anything on this outrageous turn of events – until I read your comment of 9/1 on Yate’s insightful verse ! As bad as this injustice is, our lives are in the hands of destiny and chance, not justice. Focus on this insignificant illegal can not be the “issue”. The gradual destruction of my (our) humanity subject to “loss of innocence” ? ; “the rise of anarchy” ? Indeed, the progress of humanity has already been stymied, and many are not even aware – has already pulled justice down to where the “justice system” has failed most. Killings, corruption, personal destruction and “failing” spirituality have already taken a massive toll, with the future an ominous and sad prediction, hanging by a threadbare line ! God be with us.

  6. Questions not asked in this case are Who were the Steinle family.? Were there careers or activism a threat in any way to BLM? Was there a reason BLM sought to punish the father or eliminate the daughter due to her activism? This thing has a smell, No, actually a stench. Definitely not a fan of sanctuary cities or using illegal immigrants to cause chaos in the nation as a destabilization tool. This case however smells of this guy being released, drugged and positioned as patsy. Hope I am wrong but there are definite questions to be asked that aren’t being asked. Kate was an activist that traveled the world – what in particular was she doing just prior to her being killed,? Who was she an activist against?, What lands was she active in attempting to preserve ? What entities stood to profit by quieting her activism? BLM or someone powerful who uses BLM as a tool in their land theft? What did her father do for a living and did he ever run afoul of BLM? Kates father is not comfortable with the name Kates Law. Maybe because he also suspects or knows this was not an immigrant thing but much much darker???

  7. We the good citizens of the United States of America must do our part. If you know an illegal alien report them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detainment and removal.

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