{"id":125862,"date":"2017-10-23T04:23:28","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T08:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=125862"},"modified":"2017-10-23T04:23:28","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T08:23:28","slug":"murder-trial-that-sparked-immigration-debate-gets-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/10\/23\/murder-trial-that-sparked-immigration-debate-gets-underway\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder trial that sparked immigration debate gets underway"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jose<\/a>
Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, 54, acknowledges shooting Kate Steinle in the back while she was walking with her father on the downtown pier July 1, 2015. (Photo:<\/a> Eric Wilson\/ Flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Trial is set to begin this week for a Mexican man who set off a national\u00a0immigration\u00a0debate after he shot and killed a woman on a popular San Francisco pier.<\/p>\n

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, 54, acknowledges shooting Kate Steinle in the back while she was walking with her father on the downtown pier July 1, 2015.<\/p>\n

But Zarate said the shooting was accidental. He said he was handling a handgun he found wrapped in a T-shirt under a bench on the pier when it accidentally fired. The handgun belonged to a Bureau of Land Management ranger who reported that it was stolen from his parked car in San Francisco a week before Steinle was shot.<\/p>\n

The San Francisco district attorney’s office has charged Zarate with second-degree murder, which could result in a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Assistant District Attorney Diana Garcia declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Zarate’s attorney Matt Gonzalez said his client didn’t realize the bundle he picked up contained a firearm, and it went off as he unwrapped the T-shirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn’t know it was a gun when it fired,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cIt all happens in a span of three seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors charge otherwise, alleging Zarate recklessly pointed the gun at people on the pier.<\/p>\n

The suspect originally went by the name Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez when he was arrested. But his lawyer Matt Gonzalez said he now prefers to be called by his birth name of Zarate.<\/p>\n

Opening arguments are scheduled for Monday.<\/p>\n

Zarate had been deported five times and was homeless in San Francisco when he shot Steinle. He had recently completed a prison sentence for illegal re-entry when he was transferred to the San Francisco County jail to face a 20-year-old marijuana charge.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors dropped that charge, and the San Francisco sheriff released Zarate from jail despite a federal\u00a0immigration\u00a0request to detain him for at least two more days for deportation. The sheriff’s department said it was following the city’s sanctuary policy of limited co-operation with federal\u00a0immigration\u00a0authorities.<\/p>\n

The shooting touched off a political furor during the presidential campaign, with President Donald Trump referring to Steinle’s death in his campaign as a reason to toughen U.S.\u00a0immigration\u00a0policies.<\/p>\n

Since being elected, Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities such as San Francisco, several of which have filed lawsuits to prevent the move.<\/p>\n

None of that is at issue during the trial, and the judge has barred mention of the politics of\u00a0immigration\u00a0and gun control during the proceedings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Trial is set to begin this week for a Mexican man who set off a national\u00a0immigration\u00a0debate after …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":97853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24157,6],"tags":[29160,29159],"class_list":["post-125862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-american-news","category-immigration","tag-murder-trial-that-sparked-immigration-debate-gets-underway","tag-national-immigration-debate","mauthors-paul-elias","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}