Mirkarimi: 'I'm Dying to See My Son'
Judge denies sheriff's emergency visitation request
Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi left San Francisco's Superior Court in tears Friday after learning that he will have to wait at least five more days to find out if he can see his 2-year-old son, Theo.
A judge on Friday rejected Mirkarimi's request for emergency visitation rights, but set a hearing for next Wednesday to consider allowing the San Francisco sheriff to spend time with his son.
It was the third time in two weeks that a judge has refused to allow the sheriff to see or speak to Theo.
Mirkarimi has been barred from having any contact with his wife, Eliana Lopez, and Theo since Jan. 13, when he was arrested for allegedly bruising Lopez during an argument on New Year’s Eve. According to court documents, that argument took place in front of Theo.
Last month, Mirkarimi pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanor charges of domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness.
Mirkarimi was optimistic before the hearing began Friday afternoon, telling reporters, "I'm going in there with the greatest of hope."
"I'm dying to see my son," he said. "I can’t wait to hug my son. I’d like to hug my son and wife and get back to some level of normalcy. And I’m hoping today is the beginning of that.” Mirkarimi said he had bought children's books in anticipation of a visit, including "Curious George and the Ship by the Sea.”
But after the hearing, Mirkarimi acknowledged, “I was getting a little bit too hopeful.”
When a reporter asked Mirkarimi, “What do you want your son to know?” the sheriff began to cry. “I miss my son terribly, and he misses me,” he said. Then he walked away.
Lopez also attended the hearing with two new attorneys, Deborah H. Wald, a family law attorney, and Paula Canny, a criminal defense attorney.
Canny has represented such clients as Greg Anderson, the athletic trainer who chose to go to jail rather than testify against Barry Bonds in the baseball player's perjury trial. At previous hearings, Lopez had been represented by Cheryl Wallace.
After the hearing, Canny told reporters she thought the case was "being over prosecuted, and it's partly because who Ross is and it's partly because what was reported about Ross, but it's just flat-out wrong."
“I’m sure Ross is crushed, and Eliana is crushed, and Theo is crushed,” Canny said.
Wald described Theo as "struggling."
"Right now, we have a little boy who has no idea where his daddy is, and that’s a terrible thing to happen," she said.
The only comment Lopez made was to a reporter from a Spanish-language media outlet. "We keep fighting," she said in Spanish.
Lopez and Mirkarimi did not speak during the hearing. Instead, their attorneys submitted submitted documents to Judge Ronald Albers, who then returned a written decision from his chambers.
When Lopez entered the courtroom, she approached her husband, but her attorney directed her to the opposite side of the room.
In court documents in support of Mirkarimi's request, Lopez wrote, "My son Theo is asking for his father every day. He waits for Ross on the stairs in the morning, hoping Ross will be there to take him to school; he runs to the window in the evenings looking for Ross."
Last week, Judge Susan Breall encouraged Mirkarimi to go to family court to request permission to visit his son, after she twice denied his previous requests. Breall said family court is where such petitions are handled. Mirkarimi then filed an emergency visitation request.
"They're extremely rare," Superior Court Communications Director Ann Dolan said of the request. "The judges hardly ever grant emergency orders on visitation without some overwhelming, overriding evidence."
Since his arrest, Mirkarimi, who was sworn in as sheriff on Jan. 8, has said that he would not resign. During a meeting at City Hall last month, Mayor Ed Lee asked him to consider taking a leave of absence.
If Mirkarimi were to step aside temporarily, the undersheriff would take charge of the Sheriff's Department. But the current undersheriff, Jan Dempsey, plans to retire soon, and a replacement has not yet been named.
Mirkarimi spent last week interviewing the 17 internal candidates for the position. He told reporters during a break in the hearing that he would announce the new undersheriff next week, possibly Monday.
eight arms
Something else that is very rare in Superior Ct. is cameras barred from the fourth floor, more evidence this is in fact not going to be a trial just like any other.
Betsey Low
Oh, the drama! I'll admit as a parent that it is difficult to be away from your children especially small children, but Ross is no different than anyone else in terms of being special. No one is going to die from not seeing another while knowing they will soon enough.
I find it interesting that this has gone so far considering Lopes did not instigate this investigation.
Staying tuned. Thanks for the info!
Josh Wolf
No one will die from not seeing someone for a month, but the impact on a two-year-old denied the opportunity to see his daddy could have profound effects on his development.
No one has accused Theo of any wrongdoing, but it is undeniable that not allowing him to see his father, even in supervised visits, is a cruel punishment that this two-year-old boy doesn't deserve. If this truly the way all cases of misdemeaner domestic violence are handled, then I think this case reveals a systemic problem that punishes both children and alleged abusers who are theoretically considered innocent until proven guilty.
eliza hamill
I concur. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
eliza hamill
If you felt wrongly accused of something and part of that accusation meant you couldn't even see your two-year-old baby, you'd feel like you were dying inside too.
It's not merely "interesting" that this has gone so far considering Lopez did not instigate this investigation, it's suspect.
eight arms
Speaking of great actors how about the performance of Judge Breall telling the Mirkarimis they can petition Family Court, knowing it almost never revises a TRO.
eliza hamill
Also, Breall, whose husband worked on Mirkarimi's opponent's campaign--why isn't that out in the media?--snidely said she knew that the Sheriff wouldn't want special treatment.
Well, he is getting "special" treament. Every lawyer I know says it is unprecedented for a Judge to deny any kind of interaction--not even a supervised phone call--between accused parent and their young child. If she were truly treating this case like any other--again, I remind you that not only was the Judge a career prosecutor in DV cases (conflict of interest, anyone? hello?), but her husband/or life partner, David Looman, was a political consultant for Chris Cunnie. Smell a fish, anyone???!!!
Ne Repl
A feminist judge is skirting the rules. Seems a few years ago, the current San Francisco FIRE Chief battered her husband and he recanted his story. Then the good old girls club, Police Chief heather Fong, and Kamala Harris DA, stood behind Joan Hayes White SFFD Chief and let her slide.
Now we have a feminist judge who has already found the sherrif of San Francisco guilty. Same as a rape charge. The man is guilty until proven innocent. Men have to stand up to this new allegation of DV. If you sneeze at your wife you are in jail. Did you know that when the DA office prosecutes DV cases they get paid by the federal government only if they get a conviction. It is all about woman power and $$$$$. Look it up. It is the only alledged crime I know of that pays local DA's offices if they get a conviction. So if the evidence is not there, the DA office will over charge and threaten heavy time in jail until the man accepts a bargain lesser charges in order for the DA's office to get paid.
When woman batter men, nothing happens. I was at a friends house and the man's dog jumped as he was bent over, connecting with his face. The dog broke the man's nose. An accident. He went to the ER and was treated. Had the dog accidentally jumped and broke the wife's nose, the ER would have called the police and the man would probably would have been arrested. Scary huh. We all talked about it afterwards and all agreed it was a good thing he had his nose broken and not his wife.
DV laws are needed but feminists have taken it too far. Men are being falsely accused and are kept from their families and children.
And women set men up who are getting a divorce. Alleging DV in order to gain custody of the children and of course more $$$$$$$.
My ex accused me of abuse as we were going to arbitration for custody. When we arrive at the county arbitration meeting I brought up the wife's allegations. She turned white in the face when I asked the arbitrator to call the local sheriff's office and take the complaint. She recanted so quickly it was laughable. If that happened today I probably would have been taken to jail.
Do not vote for this feminist judge if she comes up for reelection.
bgdoglvr
You obviously have a very strong bias because it's personal for you. There are soooo many more cases of DV that don't get prosecuted or that never get reported or that get reported too late, after much damage has occurred to women and children than cases where the man is wrongly accused that it's laughable. There will always be outliers and small percentages of people wrongly accused, but the system is set up for the vast majority of women and children who suffer from being battered and abused.
barry eisenberg
If this isn't a setup I don't know what is.I could speculate on all the players but I won't. The truth will come out and it won't be pretty.
R T
Yes- The plan all along was to get his wife to go to the neighbors, claim abuse, then have her deny it. Utterly brilliant.
barry eisenberg
RT: I never said it was a conspiracy to entrap Mirkarimi from the git-go. The conspiracy began when a family problem spilled over into the public arena and certain people saw an irresistible opportunity to take the man down.
There are many strange connections: the publicity hunting feminist avenger who has connections with the police department; officers and higher-ups from Northern Station who handled the original complaint; the domestic violence division in the Hall of Justice (right down the hall from the D.A.'s office by the way);the past and present connections and apparent bias of Judge Breall,a former d.v. prosecutor; framing of the case from the very beginning by a certain anti-domestic violence group that was in on the action;knee-jerk complicity with Mirkarimi's political enemies (including Sr.Gascon) in a "Let's royally screw the new sheriff in the court of public opinion and run him out of office" campaign...
I'm sure there are a few other players and connections I'm leaving out,some
"coincidental",others maybe unwitting. Those more in the know than me can fill in the details but you get the idea.
Now don't you go: 'Just another wacky conspiracy theory.That way of marginalizing your opposition has become a cliche, shorthand for 'I don't want to make the effort to rebut or even examine your accusations.'
What's that you say? Ooops,there you go again...
Now hear this: Ross Mirkarimi is a strong man. He's going to survive this persecution and come out stronger for it. He'll continue the progressive heritage of Sheriff Hennesey,mark my words.
R T
Personally I love how all the supporters of Ross- the progressives as they like to call themselves, are really backing him on this. Of course, if it was Ed Lee, Gavin Newsom, Gascon, etc, accused of the same conduct, there would be candlelight marches, effigy lynchings, and big protests demanding that he step aside at the least untilt he charges are resolved. But since it is Ross, a reliable progressive, who is accused of beating his wife, it all becomes a "family problem". We used to call things like this a family problem years ago. This was also the same time that cops would show up at a domestic dispute, refuse to make an arrest, and tell the wife with the black eye to keep things down and at best, tell the husband he needs to get out of the house for the night. So glad we have move beyond that these days.
Honestly, the backers of Ross really need to take a step back and think. He very well may win this fight and end up not guilty. If that tape doesn't get to the jury, I think he has a good shot at that. But trust me, that tape will make it onto the news at some point, and when it does, try defending your champion then.
Never been a big Ross guy, much more of a moderate myself- but Ed Lee were accused of this, I would demand a trial, and urge him to step aside. Just the right thing to do. Just because you like his politics doesn't mean he gets a free pass at hurting his wife.
barry eisenberg
Two things my friend:
Have you seen the tape? If not, please don't prejudge on the basis of what was reported to and by the press.
Secondly, nobody wants to go back to how domestic violence used to be treated.
As far as I know nobody in the room is pro-domestic violence, so that's a red herring. It's about how this case is being misused to raise awareness on that issue. There was immediately a demonstration on the lower steps of City Hall about d.v. as this went public and that's fine but there are some funny connections between the players and their motivations that raise suspicions.
R T
When you call an alleged bruise on an arm from a husband grabbing his wife, "a family problem", then you, my friend, are treating DV exactly the way it used to be treated.
As for the tape- nope sure haven't seen it, if it is anything close to how it has been described- it is a political nail in the coffin for Ross. Just depends on whether it gets played in Court for the jury or on KTVU first.
barry eisenberg
Well I'm glad we are now friends:-)
You misunderstand what I am trying to say. It is not DV until proven in a court of law. At this point it might best be called a family situation that is in the public realm.
But I don't want to split hairs.We'll see. I'm just hoping he gets to see his kid and wife right away. Can we at least agree on that?
Tim Innes
Anyone else wonder why Ms. Lopez is always accompanied by her attorneys, including a noted criminal defense lawyer?
It's understandable that she would want to consult legal counsel, who could explain local laws and trial procedure to her. But a defense lawyer? Who's paying for all this? Something's fishy here.
Adrian Waller
But this should be a private matter. Its a family matter.