Undocumented Immigrant Acquitted In Kate Steinle Shooting Gets 3 Years On Gun Charge
Ines Garcia Zarate
A San Francisco Superior Court jury on Nov. 30 found  Jose Ines Garcia Zarate   45  not guilty of murder and manslaughter charges in connection with the July 1  2015  shooting death of Kate Steinle. Jurors found him guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A San Francisco judge on Friday sentenced  Garcia Zarate  to three years in prison on the firearms charge  said San Francisco District Attorneyâs Office spokesman Alex Bastian.
 Garcia Zarate  a Mexican national   has been behind bars since  his  2015 arrest  so  his  sentence has been completed after factoring in credits  Bastian said.
 Garcia Zarate  had found the gun that killed Steinle. It accidentally discharged  with the bullet ricocheting off the ground at a crowded pier before striking the 32-year-old woman  his defense attorneys have said.
Prosecutors claimed  Garcia Zarate  intentionally fired the gun  but they said they accepted the juryâs verdict.
On Dec. 5  just days after he was acquitted in San Francisco   Garcia Zarate  was indicted on federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and being an undocumented immigrant in possession of a firearm.
 He  remains in the custody of the San Francisco Sheriffâs Department and will be handed over to U.S. Marshals on warrants stemming from the federal charges  said sheriffâs department spokeswoman Nancy Crowley.
The latest criminal counts against  Zarate  would not violate the constitutional protection against so-called double jeopardy  which prohibits a person from being tried twice on the same charges  because they differed legally from the state court charges  a U.S. Department of Justice spokesman said last month.
 Garcia Zarate  faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each charge if convicted.
A San Francisco Superior Court jury on Nov. 30 found  Jose Ines Garcia Zarate   45  not guilty of murder and manslaughter charges in connection with the July 1  2015  shooting death of Kate Steinle. Jurors found him guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A San Francisco judge on Friday sentenced   [TGT]   to three years in prison on the firearms charge  said San Francisco District Attorneyâs Office spokesman Alex Bastian.
  [TGT]   a Mexican national   has been behind bars since  his  2015 arrest  so  his  sentence has been completed after factoring in credits  Bastian said.
 Garcia Zarate  had found the gun that killed Steinle. It accidentally discharged  with the bullet ricocheting off the ground at a crowded pier before striking the 32-year-old woman  his defense attorneys have said.
Prosecutors claimed  Garcia Zarate  intentionally fired the gun  but they said they accepted the juryâs verdict.
On Dec. 5  just days after he was acquitted in San Francisco   Garcia Zarate  was indicted on federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and being an undocumented immigrant in possession of a firearm.
 He  remains in the custody of the San Francisco Sheriffâs Department and will be handed over to U.S. Marshals on warrants stemming from the federal charges  said sheriffâs department spokeswoman Nancy Crowley.
The latest criminal counts against  Zarate  would not violate the constitutional protection against so-called double jeopardy  which prohibits a person from being tried twice on the same charges  because they differed legally from the state court charges  a U.S. Department of Justice spokesman said last month.
 Garcia Zarate  faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each charge if convicted.