Thread: Illegal immigrant awaits trial in San Francisco pier killing

Juan Lopez-Sanchez illegally re-entered US 5 times before killing Kate Steinle

July 14, 2017


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —
The murder trial of an illegal immigrant who killed Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier is inching closer to starting, two years after the shooting set off a fierce immigration debate.

A judge on Friday ordered Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, 54, back to court on July 21.

President Trump and others seized on the shooting to argue for tougher immigration enforcement and for the abolition of so-called sanctuary cities like San Francisco, which prohibits its law enforcement officials with cooperating with federal authorities on most deportation matters.

Lopez-Sanchez had been convicted five times of illegal re-entry into the United States when the San Francisco sheriff released him from jail after a minor marijuana charge was dismissed.

Lopez-Sanchez was released despite a request from federal immigration officials to detain him for possible deportation.

Lopez-Sanchez has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder for the July 1, 2015, shooting of Steinle while she was walking with her father on a city pier crowded with tourists.

Lopez-Sanchez said he was playing with a semi-automatic handgun he found when it accidentally fired, striking Steinle in the back and piercing her heart.

He told police he found the gun wrapped in a T-shirt underneath a bench shortly before Steinle was shot. The .40-caliber SIG Sauer P226 handgun was stolen a few days earlier from the car of a Bureau of Land Management agent.

The BLM is trying to block a subpoena ordering that agent to testify at the trial, Lopez-Sanchez lawyer Matt Gonzalez said Friday, arguing that a state court can't order a federal employee to testify.

The Department of Interior has said the lawyer must apply to the agency for permission to let the agent testify. The Department said it requires a detailed explanation for the agent's testimony, which Gonzalez opposes because he said it could divulge his trial strategy.

Gonzalez said his client fled extreme poverty in his native Mexico and has a second-grade education.

Jim Steinle and Liz Sullivan, the victim's parents, declined comment Thursday through their attorney Frank Pitre.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2015, Jim Steinle blamed "disjointed laws" and "basic incompetence on many levels" for his daughter's death.

"Our family realizes the complexity of immigration laws. However, we feel strongly that some legislation should be discussed, enacted or changed to take these undocumented felons off our streets for good," jIM Steinle told the committee.

President Donald Trump used the shooting during his campaign for the presidency to highlight his tough stance on illegal immigration, referring frequently to Steinle's death.

Days after the shooting, Trump called Steinle's death a "senseless and totally preventable act of violence" and was "yet another example of why we must secure our border."

Last month, at the urging of Trump, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill known as "Kate's Law" that would impose harsher prison sentences on deportees who re-enter the United States.

The House also passed another bill that would bar federal grants to sanctuary cities and allow victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants to sue those cities. Both bills await action in the Senate.

A federal judge in May tossed out a wrongful death lawsuit Steinle's family filed against San Francisco for releasing Lopez-Sanchez from jail.

http://www.kcra.com/article/illegal-...lling/10309005

"A federal judge in May tossed out a wrongful death lawsuit Steinle's family filed against San Francisco for releasing Lopez-Sanchez from jail."

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Why? San Francisco and California have openly and blatantly declared themselves "Sanctuary Cities and Sanctuary State" for criminal trespassing illegal aliens. Now have a FUND to protect them!!!

The Steinle's should get together with every US family member who had a loved one MURDERED by illegal aliens in CA and file a Class Action Lawsuit!

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN FRANCISCO — Jul 28, 2017, 1:51 PM ET

A judge in San Francisco says a federal agency has agreed to allow a ranger to testify at a trial over a fatal shooting with the ranger's gun that has become a flashpoint in the national immigration debate.

Judge Richard Loftus said Friday that the scope of the ranger's testimony would be determined by the judge who presides over Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez's trial.

Lopez-Sanchez was living in the country illegally when he shot and killed Kate Steinle in 2015 while she walked on a San Francisco pier.

As a candidate for president, Donald Trump used the shooting to argue for tougher immigration policies.

The handgun used in the shooting had been reported stolen by Bureau of Land Management ranger John Woychowski. The Department of Interior had previously prohibited Woychowski from testifying.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/f...trial-48911748

This article is older than the above posted one.
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By Jonah Owen Lamb on July 24, 2017 1:00 am

Lawyers representing an undocumented Mexican immigrant who is standing trial for murder for allegedly killing a San Francisco woman in 2015 are resting much of their case on claims that Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez accidentally fired the weapon.

Lopez-Sanchez, 54, allegedly shot and killed Kate Steinle on July 1, 2015, as she walked down Pier 14 with her father. Since then, the case has garnered national attention — much of it focused on San Francisco’s sanctuary city policies, which some have blamed for Steinle’s death.

Lopez-Sanchez, who has never been convicted of a violent crime, had been released from County Jail several months before the shooting and was not turned over to federal immigration authorities because of The City’s sanctuary policies.

Now, as Assistant District Attorney Diana Garcia and Chief Deputy Public Defender Matt Gonzalez prepare for the trial, the defense is locked in a fight with federal officials to make sure the Bureau of Land Management ranger whose stolen gun was used in the killing testifies.

The ranger is John Woychowski, according to a report by KQED that referenced court documents. Woychowski has reportedly not responded to a subpoena, and BLM officials have claimed that Lopez-Sanchez’s defense team must go through special steps to have one of their agents testify.

Woychowski’s testimony could be important to the defense, because they want to know about his semi-automatic, .40 caliber SIG Sauer P329 and whether or not it had any problems in the past. Since the defense contends the gun went off by accident in Lopez-Sanchez’ hand, the gun’s history matters. Had it, for instance, ever misfired or gone off accidentally or had a faulty mechanism?

“It’s such a critical part of the narrative,” Gonzalez said about the ranger’s testimony and gun.

Still, Gonzalez admits it’s unclear what he may get out of Woychowski.

“It would be good just to put him on the stand cold,” said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez also said he has requested the service record of the weapon from the BLM, but they have yet to hand over that information.

The civil case filed by Steinle’s family against The City and the federal government, noted Gonzalez, claimed that Steinle’s death was, in part, due to their negligence.

How Lopez-Sanchez obtained the gun is unclear. He told a television reporter, who interviewed him after the incident, that he found it.

Lopez-Sanchez, who remains in custody, is set to appear in court Friday at 9 a.m. The defense was given until then to work out an informal compromise with the BLM. He was last in court July 21 for the case, which has yet to be assigned to a judge, even though Lopez-Sanchez asserted his right to a speedy trial.

It is unclear if the trial will be further delayed. Garcia has told the court she has a conflicting trial she must attend and hopes the Lopez-Sanchez matter can be put over.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/key-witnes...se-gun-stolen/