A jury sided with the defense in the case against Garcia Zarate, and Ann Coulter used the occasion to call for building President Donald Trump’s border wall.
On July 1, 2015, Kate Steinle walked with her father on San Francisco’s Pier 14 when a bullet struck her. She died right there. Police arrested and charged undocumented immigrant Garcia Zarate with murder. But was it really murder, or an accidental shooting?
The facts were and are not known, nor had a trial even occurred before Donald Trump and conservatives seized upon the death of Kate Steinle and politicized it for their own gain.
In the end, a jury returned a “not guilty” verdict, convinced that the only crime Zarate committed was illegally possessing a firearm. In short, the jury believed the defense that Steinle’s death was an accident.
Even so, he probably should have at least been charged with manslaughter. But it’s possible that the politicization of the case and Trump’s constant attacks on San Francisco and Zarate backfired on the prosecution.
This case was never about immigration, nor should it have been. It was about the evidence and the facts and which attorney was more convincing. The jury picked the defense. And that sent anti-immigration proponent Ann Coulter into a tailspin on Twitter as she attacked California and called for building Trumps’s border wall.
Killer of Kate Steinle acquitted.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 1, 2017
Jury convinced that illegal alien killed Kate Steinle accidentally. She would still be alive if we had a wall.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 1, 2017
Vigilante justice is wrong. Don’t ask me why tonight.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 1, 2017
This is new: The San Fran Chronicle headline is, “Mexican man found not guilty in pier killing.” Wow, not “California man.”
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 1, 2017
Kate Steinle’s killer Jose Ines Garcia Zarate had been deported FIVE times. San Fran sheriff had released him from jail despite a federal immigration detention request.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 1, 2017
During wall construction, when builders hit Arizona, they need to take a dog-leg turn & take it up and around California.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 1, 2017
Coulter then took a shot at Trump.
Today’s BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: Miles completed yesterday-Zero; Miles completed since Inauguration– Zero. NEXT UPDATE TOMORROW.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 1, 2017
But a wall, even as one as expensive and massive as the one Trump proposed, will not keep undocumented immigrants from entering the country.
Tunnels can be built underneath walls, which has been repeatedly demonstrated by law enforcement since they keep finding secret tunnels running underneath the border. And immigrants can even reach American shores by boat. So unless Trump is going to significantly raise the cost of his wall to bury it a good ways underground and erect it all the way around the country to block boats, a wall just will not work.
Besides, it is unfair to claim that all undocumented immigrants are killers just because one undocumented immigrant accidentally shot a woman. Studies show that undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes in this country than natural-born citizens are.
The bottom line is that Ann Coulter is nothing more than a racist bigot who formed an opinion of Garcia Zarate based on the fact that he is from Mexico. The evidence didn’t matter, and neither does the jury verdict.
All Coulter sees is a killer because his skin is brown. If a white American male had killed Steinle, Coulter would not have cared about this case one bit. And if Steinle had not been white, she would not have cared either. If the killer had been white and Steinle not been white, Coulter would have defended the killer.
She would have made excuses for him while trashing the victim and her family. Because that’s the way, conservatives treat justice in this country. If you are white, you are innocent until proven guilty. But if you are not white, the Constitution does not apply.
Check out this video for a recap of the trial’s opening:
Featured Image Via YouTube Video.
