I don't hold with the demonization of illegal immigrants that Trump rode to the White House, but Garcia Zarate doesn't push my pity buttons. He is a serial illegal crosser of the border and whether or not the gun went off accidentally, he was responsible because he shouldn't have been here in the first place and he sure as hell shouldn't have gone anywhere near a gun.
I didn't follow the trial but I was surprised that the prosecution asked for first-degree murder, as even to me, who only saw the initial news coverage of the shooting, it seemed clear Garcia Zarate wasn't aiming at Steinle. I agree with one legal analyst who blasted the prosecution for overplaying its hand: by demanding too much the prosecution may have left the jury no opportunity to deliver a verdict of, say, voluntary manslaughter. I can't otherwise understand this fiasco.
Garcia Zarate might not have aimed at Kate Steinle but in my mind he killed her. Even if you buy the defense argument that it was all an accident, it was an accident that never should have happened because Garcia Zarate was not supposed to be in the country. No matter what else his attorneys say, they can't get around that stubborn fact.
Garcia Zarate has not struck me as a genius but he should understand how lucky a break he has caught. He'd better not push his luck by entering this country ever again.
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