California justice: Safeguarding Kate Steinle's killer

FPI / February 21, 2020

The sanctuary state of California is going all out to ensure that the illegal immigrant who killed Kate Steinle is freed of all charges, an analyst said.

Jose Garcia Zarate, who admitted to shooting and killing Steinle but was acquitted of her murder, is now facing federal gun charges.

Before he is adjudicated on that charge, however, a judge suggested Zarate will get a 45-day mental evaluation at a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facility in either Los Angeles, San Diego, or Seattle — at taxpayer expense.

“The disquieting reality is that after 2015, Zarate was no longer a regular criminal in the eyes of the public,” Daniel Horowitz wrote in a Feb. 18 analysis for the Conservative Reivew. “He became one of the most notorious illegal aliens in America. San Francisco politicians, judges, and jurors will do everything they can to ensure he gets off free.”

Zarate, a seven-time felon and five-time deported illegal immigrant, had said he chose San Francisco because of its status as a sanctuary city, reports say.

“With all the talk of a two-tiered justice system this past week stemming from the corruption in the trial against Roger Stone, there is another two-tiered system in use in cities like San Francisco,” Horowitz wrote.

“Can victims of illegal aliens ever obtain justice if the trial occurs in a sanctuary city? That is the question we should be asking after Jose Garcia Zarate, the man who shot Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier in 2015, caught yet another break.”

The mental health evaluation will determine whether or not Zarate is competent to stand trial on the federal charge.

Horowitz noted: “This man had enough mental acumen to cross our border five times after being deported. He was also competent to stand trial for seven prior felony convictions. What changed now?”

Following Steinle’s 2015 killing on a pier in San Francisco, Zarate was charged with her murder after being caught on surveillance footage running from the area. After his arrest, Zarate admitted to shooting and killing Steinle, who was walking on the pier at the time with her father.

Zarate was acquitted in November 2017 of first- and second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and assault with a semi-automatic weapon. He was convicted of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In August 2019, the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco overturned the firearm conviction, saying the judge failed to give the jury the option of acquitting Zarate on the theory he possessed the weapon for only a moment.

When Kate Steinle’s family sued the city of San Francisco and former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi for negligence, the Ninth Circuit rebuffed the claim last year.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria suggested that Zarate undergo mental health evaluation to decide whether he can stand trial for two federal gun charges against him, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

As Breitbart News reported, Chhabria has delayed the federal trial because Zarate has been deemed mentally ill and thus unfit to stand trial. Previously, Zarate was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Prosecutors and Zarate’s defense team agreed that the illegal immigrant should spend at least 45 days at a BOP facility to determine whether he can be medically rehabilitated.

Breitbart noted that the mental health evaluation at any one of the three BOP facilities would be funded through American taxpayer money. The BOP is mandated to provide basic medical and mental health care to inmates with its annual $7 billion budget.

Horowitz added: “It’s truly shocking how American victims don’t matter in the debate over our own sovereignty. Illegal aliens can sue our state and federal governments for simply enforcing our sovereignty, despite centuries of case law stating they have no standing in our country. Yet whenever Americans harmed by illegal aliens try to get standing to sue against lawlessness that affects their security and the public welfare, they are denied standing. Criminal smugglers can sue our government, yet Kate Steinle’s parents can’t sue San Francisco for harboring the illegal alien who killed their daughter.”

Free Press International