Murder case invoked by Trump on the campaign trail ends in acquittal for undocumented immigrant

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• Judy Woodruff:

  But first, a not guilty verdict in a murder case that has become a touchstone in the national debate over immigration.

  And to Hari Sreenivasan.

• Hari Sreenivasan:

  The acquittal of an undocumented Mexican immigrant charged with murdering San Francisco resident Kate Steinle in 2015 drew immediate fire from President Trump. Mr. Trump has repeatedly invoked her death to rally support for a crackdown on illegal immigration.

  For more on the verdict, we are joined by Vivian Ho. She covers criminal justice for The San Francisco Chronicle.

  Vivian, you were in the courtroom to see some of this. What were the cases that the prosecution and the defense laid out?

• Vivian Ho:

  So, the charges against Mr. Garcia Zarate were murder, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm as a felon.

  To prove murder, the prosecution had to prove that he intentionally and deliberately fired the gun at Kate Steinle. The prosecution had many theories about this case. One of them was that he purposely brought the gun to the pier to play his own secret game of Russian roulette, that he was essentially at the pier scoping out targets and he wanted to shoot anybody, and that person just happened to be Kate Steinle.

  Another theory they offered was that, you know, he pointed the gun at Kate Steinle, something about Kate Steinle angered him, and he pointed a gun, directed at her, and pulled the trigger.

  On the other hand, the defense has maintained from the very beginning that this was all an accident, that Mr. Garcia Zarate never had any intention to do harm, that, in fact, he had no idea that he even had a gun.

  What the defense has said from the beginning that he was sitting on his chair at the pier when he discovered a bundle at his feet. And while reaching for that bundle, he grabbed it and accidentally discharged a firearm, which then went on to strike the ground 12 feet away and then ricochet up and travel 78 more feet to strike Kate Steinle in the back.

• Hari Sreenivasan:

  Now, one of the things that the president was tweeting when he called this a disgraceful verdict, but he also said that the jury wasn't told the killer of Kate was a seven-time felon.

  What were his previous charges? Were these violent crimes?

• Vivian Ho:

  They were not violent crimes.

  Mr. Garcia Zarate, the majority of his criminal history had to do with reentry into the country. So the majority of his charges were that he was deported and then went back in. And, you know, he was a homeless man, so there were a lot of — there were several nonviolent drug convictions on his record as well.

• Hari Sreenivasan:

  So, how did President Trump use this case on the campaign trail?

• Vivian Ho:

  Very soon after the killing, President Trump got on Twitter and tweeted that this was a situation of bad immigration, that Mr. Garcie Zarate should have been deported, and that Kate Steinle should still be alive.

  President Trump sort of used this case as a way to rally people who were looking for better immigration enforcement and to really sort of target cities that had sanctuary policies, like San Francisco.

• Hari Sreenivasan:

  So, what happens to Mr. Zarate now?

• Vivian Ho:

  Mr. Zarate, as of right now, with — he was — while he was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and assault with a firearm, he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

  That conviction holds a possible sentence of three years in state prison. He's already served a lot of that time waiting for the trial to happen. Because of this, he will most likely not have to serve any time after this.

  But the situation is that there is a federal warrant for his detainment at the moment, which means that, even if he is released immediately or after sentencing, he still has to be held, and he will most likely be deported.

• Hari Sreenivasan:

  All right, Vivian Ho of The San Francisco Chronicle, thanks so much.

• Vivian Ho:

  Thank you.

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