García Zárate was formally charged with first-degree murder and possession of illegal narcotics on July 6. García Zárate admitted in a
KGO-TV interview that he committed the shooting but said he found the gun wrapped in a T-shirt under a bench after taking sleeping pills he found from a trash can. He first claimed that he was aiming at sea lions, then that the gun had fired while he was picking up the wrapped package, and that Steinle's shooting was accidental. García Zárate pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was held on $5-million bail. García Zárate's attorney,
Matt Gonzalez, stated in court that the shooting was likely accidental. On July 28, prosecutors filed an additional charge against García Zárate: being a felon in possession of a firearm. On September 4, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Brendan Conroy stated that there was enough evidence to try García Zárate. Initially charged with first-degree murder, García Zárate was eventually tried for second-degree murder. If found guilty of the charges of second-degree murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and an enhancement of using a firearm, García Zárate could have faced life in prison without the possibility of parole. The jury also had the option of deciding if he was guilty of
involuntary manslaughter (where the death occurs without intent but "through the negligent or reckless actions of the defendant"). In August, a judge set December 2 as the date to assign the case to a judge for trial. García Zárate's public defender said there were no discussions of a plea deal. However, the trial date set for December 2016 was postponed. García Zárate returned to court July 14, 2017. The trial was postponed again on July 25, but the defendant asserted his right to a speedy trial, meaning that the trial was required to begin within 60 days. The trial began October 23, 2017, with opening statements and a brief testimony from Steinle's father. On subsequent days, jurors heard testimonies from eyewitnesses of the shooting, local investigators and the BLM ranger whose stolen gun was used in the crime. Police revealed how they had lied to García Zárate in order to motivate him to confess to the shooting by saying that they had more evidence than had actually been collected at the time. The prosecution contended he brought the stolen gun to the crime scene while the defense claimed the weapon was found under a Pier 14 seat. The defense called its first witness, the crime lab supervisor, after the prosecution rested its case after two weeks of testimony. Their case was that the shooting was accidental and occurred when García Zárate picked up the newly found gun. Experts regarding video enhancement and Spanish translation were heard to bolster the claim of an accidental shooting and incomplete investigation. A key point of contention was the ease with which the weapon could have been fired accidentally. A supervising criminologist at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab testified that the gun was in excellent condition and would not have fired without someone pulling the trigger. The defense emphasized that the Sig Sauer pistol has no external
safety mechanism to prevent accidental firing, and pointed to a record of even police trained in the use of Sig Sauer pistols having made accidental discharges. As examined by the criminologist, it was placed in single-action mode (where the hammer is cocked), rather than double-action mode (where a single pull of the trigger both cocks and releases the hammer). While it is typical for a gun that has been fired to be in single-action mode, a gun in single-action mode also requires less trigger pressure to fire. The defense argued that this made it more plausible that García Zárate could have pulled the trigger accidentally while picking up or unwrapping the bundled gun. Woychowski, a BLM ranger, testified that he always left the pistol in double-action mode, but that he typically loaded it in single-action mode, and couldn't definitively say that he had returned it to double-action mode before it was stolen. Prior to closing arguments, Judge James Feng agreed to a request by the prosecutor Diana Garcia to instruct the jury in first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and involuntary manslaughter. "The jury will be instructed on multiple theories of homicide," said District Attorney's Office spokesman Alex Bastian. Jury deliberations began after 12 days of testimony, dozens of witnesses and two days of closing arguments on November 21, 2017. On November 30, 2017, after five days of deliberations, the jury acquitted García Zárate of all murder and manslaughter charges, but convicted him of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The Department of Justice unsealed a federal arrest warrant for García Zárate following his trial. The charges include felon in possession of a firearm, involuntary manslaughter, and assault with a deadly weapon. There is an existing federal detainer for García Zárate to be transported to the Western District of Texas by U.S. Marshals. On January 11, 2019, García Zárate filed an appeal of his felon in possession conviction in the First Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal. On June 6, 2022, García Zárate was sentenced by California federal judge
Vince Chhabria to the seven years he's already spent in jail, legally closing the case. Before sentencing, Chhabria stated, "If you return to this country again and you are back in front of me, I will not spare you. Let this be your last warning: do not return to this country." García Zárate will be sent to Texas, where in federal court he will undergo deportation proceedings.
Investigation The gun used in the shooting was confirmed by forensic crime laboratory technicians to be the same one stolen from a federal agent's car. The .40-caliber handgun had been taken from a
U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ranger's car that was parked in downtown San Francisco, on June 27, 2015. The ranger, John Woychowski, was in San Francisco for an official government business trip. He testified at trial that he had left the weapon holstered in a backpack under the front seat of his personal vehicle while he went to dinner with his family. Ballistics experts for both the prosecution and defense agreed with the investigators finding that, after García Zárate fired the gun, the bullet ricocheted off the pavement away from him before traveling another and striking Steinle.
Family lawsuit In September 2015, the Steinle family announced their intention to file a lawsuit against the City of San Francisco, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Bureau of Land Management, alleging complicity and negligence in the death of their daughter. On January 7, 2017, Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero dismissed the family's claims against San Francisco and former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi. The magistrate also dismissed their claim against ICE, but he ruled that the lawsuit accusing the Bureau of Land Management of negligence could proceed. In January 2020, the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Steinle's family could not sue the city of San Francisco. ==Reaction==