The Latest: Jurors get San Francisco pier shooting case

SAN FRANCISCO – The Latest on the San Francisco pier shooting murder trial (all times local):

12:50 p.m.

The fate of a Mexican man charged with killing a woman on a San Francisco pier is now with a jury of six men and six women.

Lawyers finished closing arguments Tuesday in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate.

Prosecutors argue he deliberately shot Kate Steinle, while the defence says he was a hapless homeless man who found a stolen gun that went off by accident.

The 2015 killing sparked a rancorous national debate over immigration and San Francisco’s “sanctuary city” policies, which limit co-operating with federal immigration authorities.

Garcia Zarate was wanted for a sixth deportation when he shot Steinle in July 2015.

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11:35 a.m.

The lawyer for a Mexican national accused of killing a woman on a San Francisco pier in a case that launched a fierce immigration debate has told jurors that he knows it’s hard to believe the shooting was an accident.

But defence attorney Matt Gonzalez said Tuesday that his client found a gun, it went off and Kate Steinle died in July 2015. He wrapped up his closing argument by telling jurors that Steinle’s death was horrible, but “nothing you do is going to fix that.”

Gonzalez says prosecutors are pushing a “wild narrative” that Garcia Zarate set out to hurt someone he doesn’t know. He says they haven’t provided any evidence to prove it.

The six-woman, six-man jury is expected to start deliberations later Tuesday.

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12:01 a.m.

A jury may begin deliberations Tuesday on the fate of a Mexican man charged in the killing of a woman on a San Francisco pier — a case that became fodder in the national debate on immigration enforcement.

Closing arguments began Monday in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate.

Prosecutors argue he deliberately shot Kate Steinle while the defence says he was a hapless homeless man who found a stolen gun that went off by accident.

At the time of the 2015 killing, Garcia Zarate had been deported from the U.S. five times. He had just finished a federal prison sentence for illegal re-entry and was wanted for a sixth deportation.

Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump seized upon Steinle’s death to decry America’s loose borders.