Seeking to prevent another tragedy like the July killing of a woman on a San Francisco pier, Republican state lawmakers on Wednesday proposed legislation that would prevent California cities from accepting federal transfers of immigrant prisoners unless local prosecutors commit to pursuing felony charges.
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Prosecutors are expected to link the photos of the suspicious man on the pier to Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican national who is being held in the slaying that set off a firestorm over how local and federal authorities allowed the five-time deported felon to return to the streets just weeks before Steinle’s death.
According to the Associated Press, a San Francisco medical examiner and a police inspector testified that the bullet fired by Lopez-Sanchez ricocheted off of the pavement before striking Steinle in the back as she was walking with her father.
Lopez-Sanchez has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Smith said one round had been fired from the seven cartridge magazine clip and that the gun was still functioning normally.
Lopez-Sanchez public defender, Matt Gonzalez, said after Wednesday’s hearing that the testimony shows the weapon fired accidently – mirroring a claim Lopez-Sanchez made in an interview from jail days after the arrest with KGO TV. Outside the courtroom, Norris told reporters he does believe Sanchez unintentionally shot Steinle.
Thursday’s testimony from Jim Norris, former head of San Francisco Police Department’s Crime Lab, contradicts a police inspector’s previous claims in court Wednesday that the bullet bounced in a straight line with the direction the gun was aimed.
“There was no mechanical malfunction”, Smith said, explaining that this firearm is commonly used by law enforcement officials because of its reliability.
The weapon was reported stolen from a vehicle of a U.S. Forest Service Ranger in San Francisco on June 27, but Lopez-Sanchez has not been charged in that case.
Divers plucked the gun from San Francisco Bay next to the pier the day after the shooting.
San Francisco Police ballistics professional Andy Smith said that the gun was in top notch, good condition knowing that the protection system probably didn’t have in production.
Norris refrained from speculating on what Steinle’s shooter was doing with the gun when it went off.
Lopez-Sanchez said he found the Sig Sauer.40-caliber pistol wrapped in a T-shirt under a bench on San Francisco’s Pier 14.
Lopez-Sanchez was brought into court Tuesday heavily shackled at the waist and ankles. Suddenly, he heard a loud “pop” and Kate Steinle slumped to the ground, moaning “Dad, help me, help me”, homicide detective Nico Discenza testified Tuesday.
San Francisco and other cities and counties sometimes ignore requests from federal authorities to detain jail inmates who are thought to be in the country illegally.
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SB 57 by Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, R-San Dimas, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, say Lopez-Sanchez should have been detained.
