Tuesday, March 13, 2012

SF sheriff pleads guilty to false imprisonment

Robert Galbraith / Reuters file

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi gestures as he walks into Superior Court for the start of his trial on domestic abuse charges in San Francisco, Calif. on Feb. 24.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

SAN FRANCISCO?-- San Francisco sheriff Ross Mirkarimi pleaded guilty Monday to false imprisonment in a domestic violence case involving his wife, a Venezuelan actress.

Under the plea agreement, Mirkarimi was fined $590 and sentenced to three years of probation and a year of anger management. He will also be required to take parenting classes, according to NBC Bay Area, citing prosecutors. In exchange, San Francisco prosecutors dropped a domestic violence charge and two other misdemeanor counts they filed in January against Mirkarimi, 50, in connection with the New Year's Eve incident in the couple's Western Addition home.

Sentencing is scheduled for Monday, the report said.


He previously pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness after being accused of grabbing his wife in front of their toddler son New Year's Eve.

The plea was entered in a San Francisco courtroom.

In a brief appearance before the judge, Mirkarimi apologized to his family, the Sheriff's Department, the people of San Francisco. He also apologized to Ivory Madison, a neighbor who made a videotape of his wife, Eliana Lopez,?showing bruising on her biceps and tearfully describing her husband grabbing her in front of their son.

New sheriff mired in domestic abuse drama

Madison contacted?the police on Jan. 4 and Mirkarimi was arrested on Jan. 13, just days after he was sworn in as sheriff.

The the charges surfaced, Lopez?denied she was the victim of domestic abuse and refused to cooperate with prosecutors.

Mirkarimi made the plea deal after a three-judge panel ruled that the videotape made by Madison would be allowed as evidence in the sheriff's trial.

The sheriff told reporters at the courthouse that he would remain as sheriff saying the plea "allows us to move forward," according to the Bay Citizen news site.

Asked afterward if justice had been served, prosecutor Elizabeth Aguilar Tarchi said, "Yes."

Mirkarimi is a well-known progressive political figure in San Francisco. Prior to his election to sheriff, he served seven years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/12/10654719-sheriff-ross-mirkarimi-pleads-guilty-to-false-imprisonment

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