San Francisco District Attorney warns against using disputed verdict as "political football"

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- District Attorney George Gascon of San Francisco said Friday that the city's superior court verdict that acquitted an undocumented Mexican immigrant of murder charges for killing a young woman in 2015 should not be used as a "political football."

"The case was presented professionally. Obviously the jury disagreed with our assertions but, you know, we did our job," Gascon said in an interview with local TV KPIX 5.

In response to some criticism about the court's verdict, Gascon said the prosecutors have "worked very hard and they did everything that they should have done."

The court ruled on Thursday that 45-year-old Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was guilty of shooting Kate Steinle to death while she was eating with her father on Pier 14 of San Francisco two years ago.

Prosecutors had argued that Zarate intentionally shot Steinle, 32, with a handgun, but his defense attorney insisted the shooting was accidental and the bullet ricocheted off the ground and traveled about 80 feet (about 24 meters) before hitting Steinle.

Zarate was convicted of a single lesser charge of being a felon in possession of a gun, which may carry a sentence of three years in prison.

"It was a murder case as we prosecuted and, you know, we got a verdict on the murder case," said Gascon.

"Not the verdict we were hoping for, but the system worked the way that it's intended to work, disappointing as it may be," he noted. The case should not used "as a political football."

Steinle's death has aroused a huge debate nationwide over San Francisco's sanctuary policy, under which the San Francisco law enforcement department has refused to comply with a federal order to deport Zarate back to Mexico from the United States.

Tomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on Friday criticized the San Francisco court ruling.

"Sanctuary city policy is the reason this young lady is not with us today," Homan said.

U.S. President Donald Trump also decried the court verdict on Thursday.

"A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration," he tweeted.

Trump has been pursuing a tougher immigration policy for undocumented immigrants since he took office early this year. Enditem