New Federal Charges For Man Acquitted Of Shooting At SF Pier
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Federal authorities have charged a Mexican man with new immigration and gun violations less than a week after a San Francisco jury acquitted him of murder for the shooting death of Kate Steinle.
Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was indicted Tuesday with two gun charges. A San Francisco jury convicted him of a state charge of felon in possession of a firearm after acquitting him of murder and assault for the July 1, 2015 shooting.
The state conviction carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail. He has been in jail since the day of the shooting. His public defender Matt Gonzalez said Garcia Zarate will ask a judge to toss out the state conviction.
Earlier Tuesday, San Francisco's district attorney defended the handling of a murder trial that ended with Garcia Zarate's acquittal.
District Attorney George Gascon said Tuesday that he still believes Garcia Zarate should have been convicted of murder in the 2015 death of Kate Steinle.
Legal experts say prosecutors overreached by asking for a first-degree murder conviction because the fatal shot ricocheted off the ground, supporting Garcia Zarate's defense that the shooting was an accident.
Gascon also called President Trump a "madman" for a series of tweets deriding the verdict.
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