Posted on 12/03/2017 11:46:03 AM PST by Lurking Libertarian
So, we have a defendant with zero connection to Steinle. He had a history of drug crimes but no known violent crimes. The bullet that killed Steinle hit the ground and then ricocheted upwards. There was a video possibly showing another group of people disposing of the gun where Garcia Zarate said he found it.
Reviewing the SIG Sauer website shows these handguns cost $1,000 or more. You can see how defense counsel could easily argue that a homeless illegal immigrant would be unfamiliar with one.
All of this adds up to the defense presenting a plausible explanation for how Garcia Zarate could have fired the gun and killed Steinle by accident. Thats reasonable doubt.
The prosecutors were under tremendous political pressure. People wanted Kate Steinles killers head on a platter, even before Donald Trump ever tweeted her name.
So its not that surprising that San Francisco prosecutors told the jury that Garcia Zarate intentionally brought the gun to the pier that day with the intent of doing harm, aimed the gun toward Steinle and pulled the trigger, as the Chronicle reported, adding that the Assistant District Attorney also spent much of the trial seeking to prove the gun that killed Steinle couldnt have fired without a firm pull of the trigger.
This seems to be a classic example of prosecutorial overreach.They pushed hard for a first degree murder verdict, which requires not only proving that the defendant killed the victim, but that he did it intentionally, and that it was premeditated (planned or thought out beforehand).
(Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
This was a horrible verdict. Here in CA we followed the case on all the radio shows and we did learn that the evidence did not leave any room for 1st or 2nd degree murder. She was killed by a ricochet.
But you cannot tell me that a man playing with a loaded gun on a crowded tourist pier gets ACQUITTED for the death he caused.
A person yelling fire in a crowded theater gets more of a penalty.
Yes, like another Freeper similarly said....if Kate had been a Spotted Owl, hed be facing 20 years....
The jury was never told about his priors - any of it ... to them, he was just another innocent man being railroaded ...
Thanks for clearing that up for me
You cant tell me that if I brought a sig Sauer into the movie theater tonight and bumped it accidentally and killed someone in there, that I should be acquitted.
I cannot agree without stipulation. All aspects of government can be abused, including trial by jury. When abused, they must be challenged! (Soviet Russia had trials too.)
The attorneys on both sides, the judge, the jury pool, all were firmly leftist by my estimation, producing the desired political outcome.
I opine that the prosecutor deliberately overreached in order to provide cover for the intended not guilty verdict.
I have witnessed too much from California generally, and San Francisco specifically, to accord any benefit of the doubt on motives and actions in such a landmark case held in such a communist enclave.
I read the article yesterday: a quintessentially disingenuous fabrication to obfuscate the manifest truth that our judiciary has been radically compromised by ruthless collectivists.
Why wasn’t he prosecuted for gun crimes?
Illegal possession and illegal discharge at least.
I have served on a criminal jury before. Not a murder case, but it was still difficult to do. We were nine people, who after 2.5 days, found the defendant not guilty.
I was the one of the last two to come around. We tried to “re-enact” the event in the jury room. I was eventually convinced he wasn’t guilty. The guy had a firearm and the gun went off. No one killed, but an assault charge was made. He claimed it went off accidentally. Had a public defender.
That being said, I don’t see how the guy wasn’t at least found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Prosecution has a high bar, but this one seemed more open and shut.
Hope the feds can do a better job.
Having prosecuted criminals for 35 years I am pretty familiar with the governing technicalities .
Apparently the authoress knows as little about guns as the poor innocent defendant.
Apparently she believes the defense's arguement that someone else stole the pistol from the fed's unlocked vehicle and discarded it in a very public place in view of cameras and the undocumented migrant found it in Condition 4 with the scary "hair trigger" enabled and it just "went off".
Let's get some "facts" straight.
The perp was not "confused" during interrogation. He is a career criminal that was "lieing".
Ms Stienle is dead because the perp pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger.
The murderer was acquitted because:
A. The jury was racist and hates America.
B. The jury was stupid.
C.the prosecution was inept.
D. The prosecution didn't really want a conviction.
As a final note: If you were a subject of the Peoples Republic of CA and you had a loaded, unattended pistol stolen from your unlocked vehicle that was then used in a homicide you would be up S*** Creek.
Read the article. He was prosecuted for illegal possession and convicted of that charge.
Read the article??? LOL!
All the article says is that he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a gun. Still seems light to me.
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