SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing of an immigrant acquitted of San Francisco pier shooting (all times local):
1:30 p.m.
The Mexican man acquitted of killing a San Francisco woman and sentenced to time served on a gun possession conviction will be transferred to federal custody soon.
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department says it will hold Jose Ines Garcia Zarate until the U.S. Marshals Service picks him up to face federal gun charges. Attorney Tony Serra says he expects the transfer to occur over the weekend.
A jury cleared Garcia Zarate of murder in the 2015 shooting death of Kate Steinle but convicted him for being a felon with a gun.
The shooting sparked a debate over immigration and so-called sanctuary city policies that limit local officials from cooperating with federal authorities.
A judge Friday sentenced Garcia Zarate to three years in jail and ordered him released from local custody because he had completed his sentence while awaiting trial.
___
11:50 a.m.
A Mexican man acquitted of murder in the shooting death of a San Francisco woman that sparked a national immigration debate has been sentenced to time served for a gun charge.
A judge sentenced Jose Ines Garcia Zarate on Friday and denied his attorneys’ request for a new trial for the conviction on illegal gun possession. Garcia Zarate will now be taken into federal custody.
Garcia Zarate had been deported five times before Kate Steinle was fatally shot in 2015. San Francisco officials released him from jail several weeks before the shooting, ignoring a federal request to detain him for a sixth deportation in line with a “sanctuary city” policy.
His acquittal reignited the furor of critics who say Steinle’s death shows the need for tougher immigration policies.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.