SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- In a dramatic showdown, Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi refused to resign Tuesday just minutes before Mayor Ed Lee announced he will suspend the embattled sheriff on misconduct charges and try to replace him for good.
A day after apologizing to his wife and the community over his domestic-violence case, the newly convicted Mirkarimi went from contrite to defiant as he faced throngs of reporters for the second straight day and announced:
"I am Ross Mirkarimi, the sheriff."
A half-hour later, Lee, who on Monday had given Mirkarimi a 24-hour ultimatum to resign, said he would appoint a temporary replacement until the Ethics Commission and Board of Supervisors decide his political fate.
"Sheriff Mirkarimi's actions and confession of guilt clearly fall below the standards of decency and good faith" required of public officials, Lee said.
After five days, the Ethics Commission will begin a process to make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. The votes of nine of the 11 supervisors will be needed to remove Mirkarimi from office.
The sensational case has made headlines for weeks, since allegations surfaced of domestic violence stemming from a New Year's Eve fight between Mirkarimi, 50, a rising political star who just won election in November, and his Venezuelan soap star wife, Eliana Lopez.
Tearful story
A day after the fight took place in front of their 2-year-old son,
Lopez fled to a neighbor's house and recorded on video a tearful story of being grabbed and bruised on her arm.
Throughout the ordeal, Lopez denied she was a victim and became her husband's staunchest supporter, standing at his side during his swearing-in ceremony a week after the fight.
The case became a flash point for victims' advocates. Many were horrified that the sheriff initially called the case a "private matter, a family matter." So they paid for a downtown billboard to say:
"Domestic violence is NEVER a private matter."
This week groups renewed calls for Mirkarimi's resignation, calling his apologies "too little, too late."
The sheriff was originally charged with three misdemeanor counts of domestic violence. But in a deal with prosecutors last week, he pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of false imprisonment for refusing to allow his wife to leave the house after the fight. On Monday, he was sentenced to three years probation, 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling and 100 hours of community service.
Immediately after his sentencing Monday, Mirkarimi faced reporters in the courthouse hallway and said he was "ashamed and deeply sorry" for the pain he had caused and would work to gain the trust of the community.
Standing in the white marble hallway outside his City Hall office a day later, Mirkarimi said he still believes he is "very able to be the sheriff of San Francisco, and at this time I do not plan to resign."
He said he doesn't believe that "the conduct that I have taken responsibility for constitutes official misconduct" and looks forward to the Board of Supervisors' trial so that he and his wife will finally have the chance to "tell our story."
"Public relations hasn't been our strong point," he said, which he believes led to a situation of "innuendo run amok."
Because of a court "stay-away" order, Mirkarimi hasn't been allowed to carry a gun or talk to or see his wife for nine weeks. Mirkarimi is allowed to see his son two hours a day.
"It's been cruel," he said. "It's been crushing."
The sheriff's and mayor's back-to-back news conferences Tuesday, two floors apart in San Francisco's grand City Hall, capped a suspenseful and chaotic day.
Lopez abruptly canceled a noon news conference of her own after an explosive op-ed letter appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle from the husband of Mirkarimi neighbor Ivory Madison, accusing the couple of pressuring them to destroy the video and lie to police.
'We refused to lie'
Not only did Mirkarimi call them, but Lopez also called repeatedly "demanding that Ivory Madison destroy the video, email and texts from Eliana Lopez about the incident," according to the letter from Abraham Mertens. "After we refused to lie, Ross, Eliana and attorneys working for them attacked Ivory's character and motives. This included falsely accusing her of implausible criminal activity, such as being part of a vast political conspiracy to frame Ross."
Mirkarimi called his neighbor's allegations of suppressing evidence "a complete fabrication."
Lee appointed Vicki Hennessy, a 35-year law enforcement veteran who retired last year after serving as the city's director of emergency management, to be Mirkarimi's temporary replacement.
"He has chosen not to resign, and now I must act," Lee said, adding that the sheriff would be served with misconduct charges Wednesday.
Through it all, Lopez still "loves her husband," her lawyer, Paula Canny, said Tuesday.
Copyright 2012 - San Jose Mercury News, Calif.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
