Donald Trump blasts 'disgraceful' acquittal of Mexican immigrant over San Francisco pier killing

Donald Trump has condemned the acquittal of a Mexican man over the killing of Kathryn Steinle, whose death on a San Francisco pier sparked a national immigration debate.  

Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, who admitted accidentally shooting the 32-year-old, was found not guilty of charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to first-degree murder over the fatal shooting.   

Garcia Zarate had been deported five times and was wanted for a sixth deportation when Miss Steinle was shot in the back while walking with her father on the pier two years ago.  

President Trump called the verdict "a complete travesty of justice" on Friday, blaming what he called America's ''weakly protected Obama border" and reiterating his desire to build a wall along the border with Mexico.  

"A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration," Mr Trump tweeted.  

"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," he said in another tweet.   

The shooting came during the presidential primary campaign in July 2015 and touched off a fierce debate over the country’s immigration policies in the presidential race the following year.  

The case spotlighted San Francisco’s "sanctuary city" policy, which limits local officials from cooperating with US immigration authorities.

"From day one this case was used as a means to foment hate, to foment division and to foment a programme of mass deportation. It was used to catapult a presidency along that philosophy of hate of others," defence attorney Francisco Ugarte said after the verdict.

"I believe today is a day of vindication for the rest of immigrants."

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he hoped local officials would "consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens" by not cooperating with federal immigration officials.

Mr Sessions said San Francisco's "decision to protect criminal aliens led to the preventable and heartbreaking death" of Miss Steinle.

Politics, however, did not come up in the month-long trial that featured extensive testimony from ballistics experts. 

Garcia Zarate's lawyers portrayed him as a hapless homeless man who killed Miss Steinle in a freak accident after finding a gun which fired when he picked it up.

The bullet ricocheted on the pier’s concrete walkway and fatally struck Miss Steinle in the back.   Prosecutors said he meant to shoot and kill her.  

Garcia Zarate still faces a prison sentence after being found guilty of being possession of a firearm, which carries a potential sentence ranging from 16 months to three years.  

"From day one this case was used as a means to foment hate, to foment division and to foment a programme of mass deportation. It was used to catapult a presidency along that philosophy of hate of others," defence attorney Francisco Ugarte said after the verdict.   

"I believe today is a day of vindication for the rest of immigrants."  

Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the San Francisco prosecutor’s office, said: "The jury came back with the verdict they did, and we will respect that decision. ... This is really about the Steinle family. They showed incredible resolve during this whole process."

San Francisco Deputy District Attorney Diana Garcia said during the trial that she didn’t know why Garcia Zarate fired the weapon, but he created a risk of death by bringing the firearm to the pier and twirling around on a chair for at least 20 minutes before he fired.

"He did kill someone. He took the life of a young, vibrant, beautiful, cherished woman by the name of Kate Steinle," she said.

Defence attorney Matt Gonzalez said in his closing argument that he knew it was difficult to believe Garcia Zarate found an object that turned out to be a weapon.

But he told jurors that Garcia Zarate had no motivation to kill Miss Steinle and that as awful as her death was, "nothing you do is going to fix that."

The bullet ricocheted on the pier’s concrete walkway and fatally struck Miss Steinle in the back.

The gun was stolen from the SUV of a US Bureau of Land Management ranger that was parked in San Francisco. The city has been plagued by an epidemic of car burglaries in recent years.

Before the shooting, Garcia Zarate had finished a federal prison sentence for illegal re-entry into the United States and had been transferred to San Francisco’s jail in March 2015 to face a 20-year-old charge for selling marijuana.

The sheriff’s department released him a few days later after prosecutors dropped the marijuana charge, despite a request from federal immigration officials to detain him for deportation.

Mr Trump said during the presidential campaign that Miss Steinle’s death was another reason the US needed to build a wall on its southern border and tighten its immigration policies.

Once in office, Mr Trump signed an executive order to withhold funding from sanctuary cities, but a federal judge recently blocked it in a lawsuit from two California counties, San Francisco and Santa Clara. The administration has appealed.

On Friday morning, the White House's press secretary released a statement saying the verdict "underscores the danger to public safety".

"It’s more important now than ever for Congress to secure our borders and provide the resources... needed to deport criminal illegal aliens," it said. 

"Politicians who fail to address these needs share responsibility for preventable crimes committed against innocent Americans."