PLEASANTON (KRON) — Kate Steinle was killed while walking on Pier 14 in San Francisco over two years ago, but she was actually from Pleasanton.
Residents there say they are not happy that Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was found not guilty of murdering Steinle
This is something a lot of people here in Steinle’s hometown are talking about over dinner on Thursday night.
KRON4 spoke with some customers and employees in downtown Pleasanton.
They say they are disappointed in the verdict.
One woman says the first thing she thought when learning of the jury’s decision is he must have some great lawyers.
KRON4 talked to another woman who has been following the story and then the trial. She says if Steinle were her daughter, she certainly wouldn’t feel that justice was served.
And among anyone who has been following the trial, that is the consensus in Steinle’s hometown.
People are saying to have a felon, who was deported multiple times, to essentially get away with murder is unjust.
They say they just expected that Zarate would be convicted with more.
“Well, I am disappointed,” Pleasanton resident Judy Brown said. “I don’t think it was a just verdict. I was really hoping for at least involuntary manslaughter, so I’m sure the family is devastated. When we heard the deliberations were six days, then I feel that’s a bad sign for the prosecution, so I didn’t think that looked good. So, I was disappointed but not really surprised being that it took so long.”
“Everybody is actually really unhappy about the outcome,” resident Shayan Taghi added. “They really were hoping that the outcome would be something different–that the guy would have been charged with actually manslaughter and not just getting away with the firearm charge.”
Again, the feeling is that justice was not served.WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON: