The Verdict: A Killing on a San Francisco Pier

How a death on a downtown pier in San Francisco became a national political lightning rod.

The 2015 death of Kathryn Steinle created a furor over undocumented immigration and sanctuary cities. That’s because the man accused of her murder, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, is an undocumented Mexican National. He had been jailed and deported several times, but was then homeless on the streets of San Francisco — in part because of the city’s sanctuary policies. Then presidential-candidate Donald Trump and right-wing media got involved, using the tragedy to advance a nativist narrative of dangerous immigrants flooding over the border. Now, over two years later a jury has found Garcia Zarate not guilty of Steinle’s murder.

In this episode of Q’ed Up we go back over the case, dig into the surprising verdict,  and examine how a death on a downtown pier became a political lightning rod.