Brad Steinle said he was “just flabbergasted” by the “culmination of errors” that led to his sister’s death. “Failure No. 1” was the feds’ decision to send Garcia Zarate back to San Francisco on a 20-year-old drug charge, which they should have known would never be prosecuted. The unsecured and loaded gun left in a Bureau of Land Management ranger’s vehicle, which was stolen. And, perhaps worst of all, a sheriff’s policy that allowed the release of a repeat felon who should have been deported.

In Brad’s view, those official actions were at least as responsible as the shooter for Kate’s death.

“This trial, for me, is kind of the least important part of the puzzle,” the brother said. “The sequence of events that led up to this — and the fact that nothing has changed — is the most disheartening thing. It’s like Siegfried and Roy: You stick your head in a tiger’s mouth and you’re probably going to get bit at some point.”