Parents file claims
Steinle’s parents, Jim Steinle and Liz Sullivan, file three claims seeking unspecified damages against San Francisco’s Sheriff Mirkarimi, the Bureau of Land Management and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to hold them accountable for her death. If the claims are denied, the family could file wrongful death suits. Lawyer:
Both statistics and this gentleman’s history would tell you that what happened out on Pier 14 was not only forseeable, it was predictable.
The Steinle family say they were prompted to act after witnessing weeks of finger-pointing over the killing and no change in the sanctuary city policies. Brother:
We’re here to make sure that a change is made so no one has to endure the pain my mom and dad and I go through on a daily basis. Because the system failed our sister. And at this point, no one has taken responsibility, accountability, and nothing has changed.
Pleads not guilty, federal gun used
Sanchez pleads “not guilty” in Steinle’s death, saying he found the gun wrapped inside a T-shirt on the Pier, and it went off accidentally. Defense attorney:
This very well could be a completely accidental discharge of a firearm.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday that a service weapon issued to one of its agents was used in the shooting. The weapon was reported stolen in a car burglary in San Francisco in June. A spokesman for the agency said the matter was under investigation.
Arrested
About one hour after the shooting, a mile from the scene, Sanchez is detained by police. He is taken to San Francisco County Jail and faces a homicide charge.
Arrested
ICE turns Sanchez over to San Francisco authorities for an outstanding drug warrant. The agency requests an immigration detainer, but San Francisco — a city that doesn’t honor such request, believing them to violate Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures — releases him. San Francisco law says that
a law enforcement official shall not detain an individual on the basis of a civil immigration detainer after that individual becomes eligible for release from custody.
The chief legal counsel to the San Francisco County Sheriff says Francisco was let go because there was no legal cause to detain the suspect. The department would have returned Lopez-Sanchez if there had been a court order or warrant, but:
When Mr. Lopez-Sanchez was booked into the jail, there was no active Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) warrant or judicial order of removal for him.
Charges are dropped the following day, but Sanchez is held until April 15 while the sheriff’s office determine if there are no other warrants for his arrest and he had completed his federal prison sentence.