Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate Pleads Guilty To Federal Gun Charges In Kate Steinle Slaying
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate, the man acquitted of murder in the 2015 fatal shooting of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier, pleaded guilty Monday to federal gun charges connected to the slaying.
United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds made the announcement in the case that became a national flashpoint over immigration and San Francisco's sanctuary city policies.
At Monday's hearing, Zarate-Garcia pleaded guilty to the two charges in the federal indictment against him -- being a felon in possession of a firearm and being an illegal alien unlawfully in possession of a firearm.
A federal grand jury had indicted Garcia-Zarate on the gun charges back in December 2017.
According to the indictment, Garcia-Zarate, who is a citizen of Mexico, possessed a semi-automatic pistol and multiple rounds of ammunition leading up to the fatal shooting of Steinle as she walked on Pier 14 along the Embarcadero with her father, James, and a family friend on July 1, 2015.
The three were sightseeing when at approximately 6:30 p.m., Garcia-Zarate's semi-automatic pistol discharged. The bullet hit Kate Steinle in her back, killing her.
At the time of the shooting, Garcia-Zarate was a convicted felon and illegally in the United States, having previously been deported. He was also on federal supervised release from a 2011 Texas conviction.
On November 30, 2017, a San Francisco Superior Court jury convicting Garcia-Zarate of one state violation – being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of California state law – and acquitted him of the homicide charges.
On August 30, 2019, a California Court of Appeals court overturned Garcia-Zarate's conviction based on the failure of the state trial court to instruct the jury on the state's affirmative defense of momentary possession. The ruling had no legal effect on the federal prosecution.
A federal jury trial set to start in January 2020 was delayed when the court ordered Garcia-Zarate to be evaluated for mental competency to stand trial. Following competency proceedings occurring throughout 2020 and 2021, a change of plea hearing was set for Monday.
Garcia-Zarate's sentencing hearing was scheduled for June 6. Each of the two violations has a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
