Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate pled guilty on Monday to federal gun charges in the 2015 killing of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier.
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Garcia-Zarate pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and to being an alien unlawfully present in this country in possession of a firearm, according to a release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Northern District of California office on Monday.
The case of Garcia-Zarate has been mired controversy ever since July 1, 2015, when he shot and killed Kate Steinle on Pier 14, drawing scrutiny over San Francisco's status as a sanctuary city.
Garcia-Zarate, 51, a citizen of Mexico and a felon, had been living illegally in the United States and was in possession of a semi-automatic pistol and multiple rounds of ammunition.
Kathryn "Kate" Steinle, 32 at the time, was with her father and a family friend sightseeing. At around 6:30 p.m., Garcia-Zarate fired the gun, fatally hitting Steinle's back.
On November 30, 2017, a jury convicted him of being a felon in possession of a firearm, but acquitted him of homicide charges.
On August 30, 2019, a California state Court of Appeals court overturned Garcia-Zarate’s conviction based on the failure of the state trial court to instruct the jury on the state's affirmative defense of momentary possession.
Garcia-Zarate's federal jury trial was supposed to begin in January 2020, but was delayed when his mental competency was ordered for evaluation.
On Monday, he pled guilty to the two charges in the federal indictment against him, without a plea agreement.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 6, 2022, at 1 p.m. before United States District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco. Garcia-Zarate will remain in custody until then.
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