The man acquitted in the 2015 shooting of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier pleaded guilty to gun charges in federal court, nearly seven years after the 32-year-old’s death fueled a fiery debate about immigration and border control in the U.S.
Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate pleaded guilty on Monday to being a felon in possession of a firearm and to being an alien unlawfully present in the country in possession of a firearm, officials said.
Garcia-Zarate, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, had been deported several times before he gunned down Steinle on July 1, 2015. She was strolling along Pier 14 of the Embarcadero with friends and family when she was struck in the back by gunfire after 6 p.m.
The 51-year-old suspect used a semi-automatic pistol and was in possession multiple rounds of ammunition at the time, according to a statement from United States Attorney Stephanie Hinds and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Patrick Gorman.
Garcia-Zarate previously alleged the shooting was an accident, claiming he was handling a handgun he found stashed beneath a bench on the pier when it accidentally fired.
Gracia-Zarate, a convicted felon, was also on federal supervised release from a 2011 Texas conviction at the time. On Monday, he confessed “he was on San Francisco Embarcadero Pier 14 and possessed a semi-automatic pistol loaded with eight rounds,” officials said.
“He admitted he knew he was an alien that was unlawfully and illegally in the United States at the time and that he had previously been convicted of a felony, including the felony of Illegal Re-Entry After Deportation for which he spent more than a year in federal prison.”
A jury in 2017 acquitted Garcia-Zarate on homicide charges, triggering a national debate on immigration and sanctuary cities.
The federal gun charges against him had been pending since 2017 due to concerns regarding Garcia-Zarate’s mental health. Two doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia and dubbed him unfit to stand trial because he couldn’t follow the legal proceedings, according to ABC 7.
“Following competency proceedings occurring throughout 2020 and 2021, a change of plea hearing was set,” according to the statement.
Garcia-Zarate’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 6, 2022. He will remain behind bars until them.
Garcia-Zarate is facing a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
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We need to pursue the quislings letting our country become inundated with illegal alien law breakers. Deport the illegals but prosecute Brandon and his ilk for failure to live up to their oath!
AND ALL THe damn DA’s who keep COVERING FOR these illegal invaders!
Her father needs to plead guilty of driving under emotional stress with an expired driver’s license after accidently running this guy down on the streets. He didn’t know the car was loaded.
What a waste of taxpayer money. Every dollar not spent to keep these creeps from crossing the border costs 100 to hunt them down followed by arrest and court costs, only then to have them released by Liberal nut job judges to go out and molest honest citizens again, just keeping the Democrat circle of death alive to kill again if not in body, certainly in spirit,
“Garcia-Zarate, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, had been deported several times before he gunned down Steinle on July 1, 2015. She was strolling along Pier 14 of the Embarcadero with friends and family when she was struck in the back by gunfire after 6 p.m.”
Yet another example of the consequences of an open Southern Border.
That’s one thing i actually AGREED WITH one democrat on.. When he said “WHY WASTE MONEY keeping on deporting them, when they just KEEP COMING BACK IN!”
That is why i say when we deport them, we do so, via AIR MAIL. FROM 20,000 feet up, over their home country! AND WITHOUT parachutes!
Hope he at least gets the full 10 year sentence on the gun charge. Maybe we’ll all get lucky and he’ll die in jail.
Give him the maximum and then throw his illegal butt out of the country.
The shooter claimed to have found the gun. The shooter claimed that it fired by accident. He was cleared of killing. Now, he is guilty of possession of the gun. If he really only found the gun, that seems to be more of an “accident” than the shooting. Imagine “finding” a car and killing someone with it. Would the killing be ruled to be accidental and without responsibility? Would possession of the car then be the whole crime?