- The Washington Times - Saturday, December 2, 2017

The egregious jury finding of innocence for Jose Ines Garcia Zarate in the killing of Kate Steinle is one of the biggest travesties of justice in recent memory. 

Garcia Zarate, at the very least, should’ve been found guilty of manslaughter.

But he wasn’t. Jurors found him innocent of manslaughter, assault and murder, and guilty only of illegal gun possession.

This is leftist lunacy. The jurors must have been tainted by Democrat-progressive delusion.

Here’s the thing: Manslaughter is what killers are charged with when they’re deemed responsible for the killing, minus the intent. So how could jurors seriously determine Garcia Zarate was in possession of the very weapon that killed Steinle — and determine that he was in possession of this weapon illegally — but then not find he was the guy responsible for her death?

That’s to outright shoulder-shrug at what he was actually caught red-handed doing. It’s to say, OK, José, you had the gun — and yes, you held the gun as it fired — but you are still not responsible for the death.

Well, here’s a question for the jurors: Who was responsible for Steinle’s death then?

Was it an act of God?

This ruling is an affront to law, order and logic.

As President Trump succinctly put it in a tweet, it was “A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with illegal immigration.”

Indeed.

The defense may have been able to successfully argue that Garcia Zarate was not culpable in Steinle’s killing because it was all a big mistake — a massive and unintentional accident.

But this line of defense omits a key outrage.

It doesn’t address why Garcia Zarate was in the country in the first place.

It doesn’t explain away why Garcia Zarate, a seven-time felon with five previous deportations, was in America, in San Francisco, on that same pier with Steinle and her father, on July 1, 2015.

And it doesn’t explain away why cities like San Francisco continue to embrace sanctuary policies that put criminals like Garcia Zarate out on the streets, despite the risks and threats to innocent American citizens.

ICE had issued a detainer on Garcia Zarate. But local authorities let him go free. So Steinle died and now, justice has been smacked.

“BUILD THE WALL!” Trump tweeted.

“San Francisco’s decision to protect criminal aliens led to the preventable and heartbreaking death of Kate Steinle,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.

“Obey the law, already, and if you flout the law you’re not getting any money,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said, putting sanctuary cities on alert.

It really doesn’t get any clearer than that.

A 32-year-old woman is dead — a felon with numerous deportations who shot her has been wrist-slapped. Americans are tired of the politics, concerned for their families, and wearied of the left’s embrace of lawlessness.

And whatever actions the White House is prepared to take to make sure no more Steinle cases ever come to light, it seems like the majority of Americans will stand tall and loud in support.

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