SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Latest on the Kate Steinle murder case (all times local)
1 p.m.
A federal agency is trying to block a subpoena demanding one of its agents testify about his stolen handgun that was used to fatally shoot Kate Steinle on San Francisco pier two years ago.
Department of Interior lawyers argue that the suspect’s lawyers must ask the department’s permission for the agent’s testimony through a detailed application.
Lawyers for Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez say that requirement would divulge too much confidential trial strategy and that the agent should honor a state court order to testify.
The 54-year-old suspect has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. A trial date may be set on July 21.
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11 a.m.
The start of a murder trial has been delayed at least another week for the man at the center of a fierce immigration debate over the fatal shooting of a woman on a San Francisco pier.
Lawyers and judges are trying to find an available courtroom in busy San Francisco superior court to start trial for Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez. The 54-year-old has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the July 2015 shooting of Kate Steinle.
The killing was used by President Donald Trump on the campaign trial to underscore his call to build a wall on the country’s southern border.
A judge on Friday order Lopez-Sanchez back to court July 21.
The Bureau of Land Management is fighting a subpoena ordering one of its agents to testify at the trial. Steinle was shot by the agent’s gun, which he reported stolen several days before her death.
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12:05 a.m.
It’s been two years since a woman was randomly gunned down on a busy San Francisco pier in a shooting that set off a fierce national immigration debate.
The man accused of killing Kate Steinle is still waiting for his murder trial to be scheduled. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez is set to appear in court Friday, when a trial date may get set.
The 54-year-old was arrested shortly after Steinle’s slaying on July 1, 2015.
At the time of his arrest, Lopez-Sanchez had been convicted five times for illegal re-entry into the United States and had been recently released from the San Francisco jail despite a request by immigration officials to keep him behind bars.
Lopez-Sanchez pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and two other felony charges in late 2015.
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