An undocumented immigrant, whose case Donald Trump consistently cited as rationale for a border wall during the campaign, was found not guilty of first-degree murder Thursday, a verdict President Trump said was “disgraceful.”
“A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with illegal immigration,” Trump tweeted Thursday night after the jury found Garcia Zarate, a Mexican man who has been deported from the U.S. five times, not guilty of the first degree murder of Steinle.
The young woman was walking on a popular San Francisco pier with her father and a friend when she was shot and killed in July 2015. Zarate’s defense argued he didn’t intentionally shoot Steinle, but rather the gun he found accidentally fired when he picked it up.
Trump called the jury’s decision a “travesty of justice” and tweeted “BUILD THE WALL!” Friday morning. He then took a swift turn, blaming Democrats for being “weak on crime” and claiming they would “pay a big price in the 2018 and 2020 elections.”
A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2017
The Kate Steinle killer came back and back over the weakly protected Obama border, always committing crimes and being violent, and yet this info was not used in court. His exoneration is a complete travesty of justice. BUILD THE WALL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2017
The jury was not told the killer of Kate was a 7 time felon. The Schumer/Pelosi Democrats are so weak on Crime that they will pay a big price in the 2018 and 2020 Elections.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2017
Trump’s outrage over the verdict is not surprising. Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump consistently pointed to the case as proof of the need for his border wall and as rationale for attacking his opponents for supporting sanctuary cities. Before the shooting, Zarate had just completed a federal prison sentence for illegally coming back to the U.S. after being deported and had been transferred to San Francisco to serve time for a 20-year-old charge for selling marijuana. He was released a few days later after prosecutors dropped the drug charges and was shielded from deportation because San Francisco is a sanctuary city.
But in the first-degree murder trial against Zarate for the shooting death of Steinle, the judge blocked attorneys from mentioning Zarate’s immigration status or the fact that he was deported back to Mexico five times before coming back across the border, asking the jury to only consider Zarate’s intentions on the night that Steinle was killed, the Associated Press reported.
The verdict outraged not only Trump, but the Justice Department. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has waged war with sanctuary cities — which bar local police from helping the federal government identify and deport undocumented immigrants — since taking office.
“San Francisco’s decision to protect criminal aliens led to the preventable and heartbreaking death of Kate Steinle,” Sessions said in a statement Thursday evening. “I urge the leaders of the nation’s communities to reflect on the outcome of this case and consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens by refusing to cooperate with federal law enforcement officers.”
Immigration officials said Thursday night that they plan to take Zarate into custody and deport him once his case concludes, the AP reported.
Trump can tell if someone’s guilty just by looking at them.
Anyone notice that Conservatives are quiet when The Donald is accused of being a racist?
Donny , Hopefully you will have a chance to explore the court system first hand.
I bet the first words out of your mouth would be “Who knew it was so unfair” when they convict you of obstruction of justice.
If you ain’t sweating…
Better start
Saw on Fox how the defense attorney brilliantly explained his reasoning to a fox interviewer. The verdict here is driving the fux-(not)news folks crazy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDRSILOsh-0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KArxVv-SRRQI get it that he is undocumented, but from what I have heard it was a tragic accident.
It’s what the jury believed and that’s all that matters. I’ve been on a murder jury before, and after we delivered our verdict, I was surprised to find out all the information we weren’t given. Unlike Dumblefuck, I understood the reasoning behind it.