According to Examiner and other sources, Sheriff Ross Mikarimi has accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to one misdemeanor count of false imprisonment. In exchange for his plea, Mirkarimi will face three years probation, 100 hours of community service, a year of domestic violence counseling, and he will make an open apology to the court. Also, the protective order preventing him from being with his wife, Eliana Lopez, will remain in place for now. He'll be sentenced March 19.
News of the possible plea deal leaked just as jury selection was continuing, and it makes sense given the smoking gun of the 55-second video, depicting Lopez's bruises and her tearful explanation, which was deemed admissible on Friday.
We're grateful that this soap opera isn't going to go on any longer, with any more tedious maneuvering around legal questions when the veracity of what happened a dispute between a married couple that appears, quite clearly, to have turned physically rough could not really be in doubt. (But, alas, Mirkarimi is not admitting any domestic abuse with this plea, technically.) Whether and how this hurts Mirkarimi's political career, or threatens his position as sheriff, remains uncertain.
Update: Commenter Ben Calvin clarifies for us that the plea deal to the lesser charge will allow Mirkarimi to continue to carry a firearm in his position as sheriff.
