SAN FRANCISCO, Calif — A Mexican man who was acquitted of killing a woman on a San Francisco pier in a case that became a national flash point has been found incompetent to stand trial on federal gun charges.
A U.S. District Court judge said in a court order Friday that Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate was not competent to stand trial because of mental illness that was not being treated.
Lawyers from both sides will meet with the judge Wednesday to decide the next steps in the case.
Garcia-Zarate was acquitted of murder in the killing of Kate Steinle, who was on a pier with her father when she was shot in the back in July 2015. Federal prosecutors charged him with gun possession in 2017.
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