On Tuesday a federal grand jury indicted Jose Ines Garcia Zarate on immigration and weapons charges, giving prosecutors a new crack at the five-time-deported illegal immigrant who was acquitted last month of murder in the death two years ago of San Francisco resident Kate Steinle.
The jury specifically indicted Garcia Zarate “for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and for being an illegally present alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition,” according to a statement by the Department of Justice.
If convicted, Garcia Zarate — also known by the alias Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez — would face up to 10 years in federal prison, in addition to whatever state prison sentence he receives when he appears in court Dec. 12 to be sentenced for a weapons conviction he obtained in the Steinle case.
Instead of being convicted of murdering Steinle, Garcia Zarate wound up receiving a conviction on Nov. 30 for being a felon in unlawful possession of a firearm, a relatively minor charge that could entail him serving a maximum of three years in prison, according to The New York Times.
Following Garcia Zarate’s acquittal on the murder charge, a number of prominent Trump administration officials lashed out, with President Donald Trump himself deriding the verdict as “disgraceful.”
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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
Attorney General Jeff Sessions likewise released a statement slamming jurisdictions that “choose to return criminal aliens to the streets rather than turning them over to federal immigration authorities.”
However, DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores made it clear the department intended to review the case to see what it could do.
“We’re looking at every option and we will prosecute this to the fullest extent of the law because these cases are tragic and entirely preventable,” she said at the time.
But since the principle of “double jeopardy” prevents the government from trying Garcia Zarate on the same charges as before, the DOJ has instead brought immigration and weapons charges against him.
A federal grand jury indicted Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and for being “an illegally present alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition,” according to announcement from the Justice Department. http://pic.twitter.com/aLjUannlpO
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 6, 2017
Garcia’s potential sentence is unclear, assuming he’s convicted. Each of the new charges carries a maximum 10-year prison term, according to the Justice Department statement, but that isn’t guaranteed.
“If convicted of either violation … Garcia-Zarate faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison,” the statement reads. “However, any sentence will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence…”
Most of us would admittedly rather he rot in prison for the remainder of his life over his murder of Steinle, who was only 32 when he killed her in 2015.
Sadly, this simply isn’t a possibility now, meaning we must accept whatever we can get at this point.
H/T TheBlaze
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