Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Sheriff survives witchhunt

I reported previously (including July August) about the witchhunt against the San Fran sheriff. Now he has avoided getting fired:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — After nine months of headlines and bitter legal squabbling over the fate of San Francisco's sheriff, three members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors said Tuesday that they decided he should not be removed from office over a domestic violence case involving his actress wife.

It would take at least nine votes from the 11-member board to oust Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, who was elected last fall and mired in controversy before his swearing-in ceremony. But three of the first four supervisors to discuss their upcoming vote said they would not find that Mirkarimi was guilty of official misconduct.
Mayor Lee only got 7 votes to fire the sheriff. Here was his argument:
Lee, who was at City Hall for an unrelated Latino Heritage Month celebration, said that was mere speculation — and that the supervisors had to examine the facts of this particular case.

“This is domestic violence,” he said. “This is an involuntary incarceration of another person, happened to be a spouse, and I think if you narrow it down to that set of facts, you cannot help but conclude, as I did and the Ethics Commission did, that this is official misconduct.”
No, this was not domestic violence or involuntary incarceration. It was a man who grabbed his wife's arm, in the most intolerant city on Earth.

Update: An anonymous comment argues that the conviction could be considered domestic violence. I quote the Wikipedia article on Ross Mirkarimi:
On January 13, 2012, Mirkarimi was charged with domestic violence battery, child endangerment, and dissuading a witness in connection with a New Year's Eve altercation he had with his wife.[5] While jury selection was underway, Mirkarimi entered into a plea agreement with the district attorney, pleading guilty to one count of misdemeanor false imprisonment."
So he was charged with domestic violence, but not convicted of it. It is slanderous of the mayor to accuse Mirkarimi of domestic violence, when he was legally innocent of that charge.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You'd said that he "gripped and bruised" her arm right ?Domestic violence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence (IPV), is defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one partner against another in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation.[1] Domestic violence, so defined, has many forms, including physical aggression or assault (hitting, kicking, biting, shoving, restraining, slapping, throwing objects), or threats thereof; sexual abuse; emotional abuse; controlling or domineering; intimidation; stalking; passive/covert abuse (e.g., neglect); and economic deprivation.[1][2]

George said...

Yeah, you could give a woman a dirty look and she might consider it domestic violence. I say that it was not domestic violence because he was not convicted of domestic violence.

Anonymous said...

He admitted to something, didn't he ?

It wasn't a dirty look that left a bruise on the wife's arm.

George said...

Yes, Mirkarimi admitted to something. He admitted to gripping his wife's arm, and accepted a misdemeanor false imprisonment charge in a plea bargain.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, above it states that "restraining" is a from of domestic violence. It doesn't state that false imprisonment is. Accepting a plea brgain means there was a conviction, or do you want to try to split some more hairs over that, too ?

George said...

I am not splitting hairs. I am just posting the facts. Wikipedia says: "On January 13, 2012, Mirkarimi was charged with domestic violence battery, child endangerment, and dissuading a witness in connection with a New Year's Eve altercation he had with his wife.[5] While jury selection was underway, Mirkarimi entered into a plea agreement with the district attorney, pleading guilty to one count of misdemeanor false imprisonment."

Anonymous said...

Ok so a false imprsonment conviction isn't like restraining and there was no domestic violence, just flase imprisonment.

George said...

You can say a dog is like a cat, if you wish.