Chomping at the bit to get Ross Mirkarimi to stand trial for domestic abuse, apparently, District Attorney George Gascon has some more fighting words for the sheriff, who pleaded guilty Monday to a lesser charge of false imprisonment in order to avoid a trial. Mirkarimi subsequently went to mustache twins Matier & Ross and told them that the main reason for his plea was to put an end to his spiraling legal costs, which are up to $125,000 now. Then Gascon got pissed and had a sit-down with Chronicle staff yesterday to publicly call bullshit on Mirkarimi's plea, and say, "We're not... in the habit, of taking a guilty plea from somebody who is not guilty. If the defendant in this case believes he is not guilty, then we should go to trial and let a jury decide." And, so, we continue watching as the SF soap opera turns.

Gascon now plans on confronting Mirkarimi during his sentencing on Monday and asking the judge to make sure that Mirkarimi's plea was entered into knowingly and intelligently. As Gascon says, "Either he was lying to the court when he said that he was guilty or he's lying now. There's really no two ways to look at it."

In any event, Monday's sentencing will probably, apart from this bit of drama, go as planned, and Mirkarimi will likely issue some kind of mea culpa about his statement to the press.

Maybe soon every Chronicle columnist (including Nevius) can stop covering and recovering this story? Because next thing we know Leah Garchik is going to be showing up at the courthouse to report on what Eliana Lopez is wearing.

[Chron]
PREVIOUSLY: Mirkarimi's next challenge: paying the lawyers [Chron]