Monday, March 12, 2012

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi takes the plea: guilty


Los Angeles Times, 3/12/12, 11:34 AM.  "San Francisco sheriff takes plea deal in domestic violence case."

San Francisco County Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi pleaded guilty Monday to false imprisonment in connection to a domestic violence incident with his wife, a former Venezuelan telenovela star, a district attorney's  spokesman said.

Photo: Ross Mirkarimi addresses reporters while leaving court on Jan. 26. Credit: Eric Risberg / Associated Press
"Sorry I could not tear-down your golf course too, I tried." 
Mirkarimi entered the plea in a San Francisco courtroom. He will be sentenced to three years of probation and a year of counseling, spokesman Omid Talai said. The plea came after a higher court ruled that jurors could see a video of Mirkarimi's wife, Eliana Lopez, made shortly after the incident.

Mirkarimi earlier was charged with three misdemeanors and could have been sentenced to a year in jail if convicted. Those charges were dropped as part of the plea deal. The case has captivated the attention of San Francisco over the last few months.

The saga began New Year's Eve, when Mirkarimi, his wife and their 2-year-old son, Theo, went out for lunch. En route to the restaurant, according to Mirkarimi's arrest warrant, Lopez asked if she could visit her family in Venezuela after her husband's Jan. 8 inauguration. In response, Mirkarimi began screaming obscenities, accusing Lopez of "trying to take Theo away from me." He turned the car around, told his wife she "didn't deserve to eat" and drove home, court documents said. "The fight continued and became louder, and Ross Mirkarimi continued to be verbally abusive and physically abusive," the arrest warrant said. The incident was reported to involve "pushing, pulling and grabbing."

On New Year's Day, Lopez knocked on her neighbor's door, went inside and burst into tears. According to the neighbor, Lopez pushed up her sleeve to reveal a large bruise on her right arm. She said it happened when Mirkarimi grabbed her. The neighbor pulled out a video camera and shot about 55 seconds of footage showing Lopez, distraught."

Posted by Kathy Meeh

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actress 1
Sheriff?? 0

Anonymous said...

Sheriff - 1
SF - 0

He took a deal that legally says he's only guilty of "restraining" her and still allows him to carry a gun, then he issued a non-apology apology. He has never acknowledged that he did anything bad, that his behavior crossed the line. The video explains what happened. He should not be Sheriff.

Anonymous said...

Career damage has been done and closer to home the wifey is way ahead in that upcoming divorce action and child custody battle.

Anonymous said...

ah c'mon it's san francisco and he's perfect
can't wait for round 2 with the battlin' mirkirimis
if the sheriff thing doesn't work out they can get a reality show

Anonymous said...

I love what the first defense attorney he hired said about him. Basically he said that Mirkarimi is a bombastic personality, and sometimes a tyrant, but he's no abuser. That attorney was promptly replaced by a female attorney.
To sum up, I guess we can think of Mirkarimi as a pretty typical politician but with a gun and badge and his own very real posse.

Anonymous said...

In the very near future watch his wife file for divorce.

Mirk's new look. He shaved his lenin beard.

Unbelievable that he is still Sheriff.

Well, this proves one thing, that the communists are definitely running the show.

Steve Sinai said...

Plater sure knows how to pick his buddies.

Anonymous said...

Yes