The murder suspect at the center of a national immigration debate admitted to shooting and killing a young San Francisco woman out for an evening stroll with her father, a homicide investigator testified Tuesday.
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Three detectives testified Tuesday, establishing Lopez-Sanchez was the shooter.
They showed the photos in court in an attempt to show there is enough evidence to schedule a murder trial against Lopez-Sanchez.
The judge has to decide if there’s enough evidence to schedule a trial.
Prior to the killing, Sanchez had been deported back to Mexico five times but was able to return after every deportation as escape further deportation by residing in San Francisco.
A San Francisco Superior Court judge is weighing whether prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed to trial with murder charges.
After local prosecutors dropped the marijuana charge, Lopez-Sanchez was released in April despite a federal detention request. The slight man nervously twitched his right leg up and down and stared at the floor during most of the hearing. Steinle was shot throughout a night stroll together with her father and a household pal.
Suddenly, he heard a loud “pop” and the victim slumped to the ground, moaning ‘Dad, help me, help me, ‘ detective Discenza testified Tuesday. Nico Discenza said the teacher took out her cell phone and in photos captured a man hurrying away from the scene.
Back in late July, the U.S. Senate voted 241-179 in favor of a bill crafted by San Diego Representative Duncan D. Hunter (R) that blocked a particular type of federal funding to sanctuary cities who have neglected to cooperate with federal authorities on immigration policies.
FILE – This undated photo provided by the San Francisco Police…
His public defender, Matt Gonzalez, said the shooting appears to have been accidental.
Before the shooting, Lopez-Sanchez had been transferred to San Francisco jail to face a two-decade old arrest warrant for marijuana possession after finishing a federal prison sentence for illegal re-entry into the United States.
But leading politicians, including top Democrats such as California Sen Dianne Feinstein and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, said Lopez-Sanchez should have been detained. But it still remains unclear if he purposely shot Steinle in the back or if the gun accidentally fired, as he told a local televisions station in a jailhouse interview.
That in turn led to criticism of Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi who said there was nothing in Lopez-Sanchez’s past that would have indicated he was a violent threat.
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He was on the streets after San Francisco officers disregarded a request from federal immigration authorities to maintain him in custody. When he picked it up, it accidentally went off.
