The Zarate trial, cannabis… and sexual harassment at SF City Hall. We talk about the week
In his first federal court appearance Monday, the undocumented homeless man acquitted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Kate Steinle declined to enter a plea on two illegal gun possession charges.
Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, 45, is facing federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and being an undocumented immigrant in possession of a firearm after his acquittal in the Steinle trial Nov. 30.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shiao Lee said Garcia Zarate violated his supervised release when he committed a crime and failed to report to authorities after his release from custody.
Garcia Zarate was on supervised release when the Sheriff’s Department released him from in April 2015.
He was transferred to County Jail from a federal prison to face a 20-year-old marijuana charge in March 2015, but the District Attorney’s Office never pursued the charge when they revealed the accused was only found with cbd syrup.
James, the federal magistrate judge, ruled Monday that the matter would be handled after the gun possession charges.
Garcia Zarate is facing up to two years in prison for violating his supervised release.
The federal gun possession charges each carry up to a 10-year sentence.