No verdict in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate could deliver satisfactory justice for the killing of Kate Steinle, a 32-year-old woman who was shot on July 1, 2015, as she was strolling with her father along Pier 14 in San Francisco.
On Thursday, Garcia Zarate was acquitted of the homicide — or even on a charge of involuntary manslaughter — though the jury convicted him of possessing the gun.
Judge Samuel Feng repeatedly admonished prospective jurors not to consider the overriding political implications that made this a national story. President Trump and Fox News commentators have often invoked Kate Steinle’s name as justification for cutting off federal funds to sanctuary cities and building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The judge was absolutely right: The political dynamics had no bearing on Garcia Zarate’s culpability for Steinle’s death.
But that does not mean, in the aftermath of the trial, that sanctuary cities — and now the state of California, with its sanctuary policy — should be satisfied that they have struck the right balance for public safety.
Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed SB54, the “California Values Act,” which prohibits state and local law enforcement from asking about a person’s immigration status or participating in immigration raids with the feds. It also limits the authority of police and sheriffs to share information on inmates’ release dates, or to transfer people to immigration authorities. An exception would be for those convicted of one of roughly 800 crimes in the past 15 years.
San Francisco is considerably more restrictive: Under a compromise approved by the Board of Supervisors, federal authorities could be notified of an impending release only if the prisoner had a serious felony record within the past seven years. It’s a distinct improvement over the policy of former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi that led to Garcia Zarate’s release — that edict effectively shut off any local cooperation with federal agents — but it still leaves the city in a vulnerable place.
I’m no expert on SF — but my daughter worked and lived right in Union Square for 3 years, and I spent a bunch of time there… specifically in SOMA.
I got a snoutful of “gentrified” San Francisco where the Tenderloin meets the new improved Folsom Street.
How many Americans know that the Folsom Parade is fully sanctioned by the population of that city… it’s a gay parade…. but more than that… it’s a full on homosexual romp – complete with public sodomy, fellatio… S&M cages…
ALL WHILE TODDLERS RIDE ON THEIR PARENTS SHOULDERS … sucking on penis popsicles.
THAT SAID…. after the horror of Folsom … it’s easier to understand the pathologies at work in SF.
This verdict was predictable… a thumb in the eye of blue eyed, blonde haired America.
Had the victim been a seal or a bull dyke… the verdict would have been death.
SF hates US ….. HATES ALL WE ARE…. and the verdict was their way of giving us the finger—
— as they offer their children penis popsicles… and watch men give and receive each other on the streets of the NEW improved SOMA
So justice wasn’t served because releasing impoverished, unskilled felons would likely render them homeless.
I’m not sure if I feel more pity more than contempt for the person or persons at the paper who felt compelled to write this.
There is a lot worse things the male homos do that are not done in the Folsom parade.
When I lived there the public health department had to step into the sadism bondage scene. Public health departments keep track of deaths and injuries. So many homos killed each other in their bondage sadism activities that the public health department had to develop and teach the homos ways to enjoy their bondage thing without killing each other. There are other things I won’t say here. Some of it is unbelievable when one first hears about it, such as the use of glass topped tables and I guess it could be called prostate massage.
The AIDS epidemic was created right there in the San Francisco and NYC bathhouses.
SOMA used to be just a skid row of drunks, bums and cheap falling down hotels. Now its a million times worse.
When Dianne Feinstein was on the board of supervisors and later Mayor she used to hold lesbian weddings in her home. They weren’t really weddings of course, just ceremonies. Gavin Newsom slatted to be governor of California is gay as well. San Francisco was always a gay mecca because it was the only city in a rural area. But after about 1960 they just poured in.
It was just unbelievable how the politicans just ignored the mass of normal Whites and Asians and did everything the blacks and gays demanded. Incidentally, it was long term assembly man and Mayor, Willie Brown who introduced the bill to de criminalize homosexuality in California back in 1969.
When he was up for re election, he had a survey done of every household in his constituency. He discovered that he had the largest percentage of single male households in the city. That meant gays, almost all men, the lesbians were in another section of the city.
So he sponsored that bill. It won and the gays loved him for ever after. And the black conservative anti gay preachers still loved him.
It’s hard to believe, but the gay influence is fading in San Francisco. It used to be a lot worse.
Many normal San Franciscans hope that the rich Chinese will drive the gays out with rising housing prices.