A judge ruled today that a man at the center of the national immigration debate must stand trial on a murder charge in the shooting of a young San Francisco woman.
Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, 45, is charged with second-degree murder in the July 1 killing of 32-year-old Kate Steinle as she walked with her father and a family friend along the San Francisco waterfront. He could face life in prison if convicted.
Lopez-Sanchez acknowledged shooting Steinle but said the gun he found under a bench had fired accidentally. Prosecutors disagreed.
"He could have fired the gun anywhere, but he fired at Kate Steinle," prosecutor Diane Garcia said in court. "He played his own version of Russian roulette."
Public defender Matt Gonzalez said his client never pulled the trigger. Instead, he says Lopez-Sanchez found the gun wrapped in a T-shirt and it accidentally went off as he picked up the bundle.
"This gun has no safety," Gonzalez said of the .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol that was reported stolen in June by a federal agent. Gonzalez said the gun is a common weapon used by law enforcement and police have reported other accidental discharges.
"There is no evidence that he put his finger in the trigger," the lawyer said.
Judge Brendan Conroy said he heard enough evidence over a five-day preliminary hearing to warrant a jury trial for Lopez-Sanchez, who has pleaded not guilty.
The shooting triggered a national debate over immigration after it was revealed that the Sheriff's Department had released Lopez-Sanchez despite a federal request to detain him for possible deportation.
Lopez-Sanchez was previously deported five times to his native Mexico.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly mentioned the killing of Steinle as he calls for a border wall and mass deportations to curb illegal immigration.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, both Democrats, said Lopez-Sanchez should have been detained.
San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said he was following city law when jailers released Lopez-Sanchez after a 20-year-old marijuana possession charge was dropped.
