In the latest news surrounding sidelined Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi's misconduct trial, it is the Mayor's turn to start lobbing out the pointed language and conspiracy theories. In an opening brief for the trial, Mayor Lee's office and a Deputy City Attorney accused Mirkarimi and his campaign manager of attempting to cover up the events from New Year's Eve.

As Deputy City Attorney Sherri Kaiser put it, "Sheriff Mirkarimi sat by as his campaign manager and his wife tried to tamper with an investigation." While, Mirk-a-roni definitely did some noodling around in the wake of the incident, his reaction (and every subsequent time he denied being at fault) always seemed more like stubbornness than an attempted cover up. The guy never seemed to be able to figure out that he did something wrong, is what we're getting at here. And that is exactly why he should be taking domestic violence intervention classes for the next year. Which he will be. (And none of that, we should note, would excuse what Mirkarimi allegedly did.)

Anyhow Team Mirkarimi, lead by attorney-to-the-stars Shepherd Kopp, responded by calling the accusations "defamatory," "flatly untrue," and "slanderous".

Meanwhile, the case moves on: The cellphone records may not be admissible in court, but Ivory Madison is apparently prepared to testify before the Ethics Commission that Mrs. Lopez called her upset on December 31st. The Mayor's office is also relying on testimony from Mirkarimi's former campaign manager Linnette Peralta Haynes, who is expected to testify that she meant to dissuade Lopez and Madison from taking their story to the police. Haynes' attorney is, as you might expect, denying that one.

The Mayor's witness list for the trial names 15 other witnesses, aside from Madison and Haynes, including Mirkarimi's predecessor Sheriff Hennessey who will speak generally about his communications with Mirkarimi between November and January. Neighbor Callie Williams is also expected to testify that Lopez emailed her to say that some information Lopez confided in her was "too dramatic" to repeat.

Previously: All Ross Mirkarimi coverage on SFist
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