Update: On Thursday, a jury rendered a decision: they found Garcia-Zarate not guilty on murder charges. A federal case may be opened up in his case, according to media reports.
A Mexican immigrant was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges in San Francisco on Thursday, Nov. 30, in the politically charged shooting and death of a woman, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The case against Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, who immigrated illegally to the United States, became a rallying cry for President Donald Trump during his campaign for the White House, as he pushed to halt illegal immigration and penalize so-called sanctuary cities, including San Francisco.
Zarate, who had been deported to Mexico five times since first entering the U.S. as a juvenile, said the July 1, 2015, shooting of Kate Steinle on a pier in San Francisco, was an accident.
The San Francisco jury, while acquitting him of murder and manslaughter charges, found him guilty of the lesser charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter covering the case said on Twitter.
