The Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi drama could go on the road, if his lawyers have their way. And that could be a disaster for him, according to legal experts.
The "public soap opera" that has unfolded since Mirkarimi, 50, was charged with domestic abuse for allegedly bruising his wife during a New Year's Eve argument has included media scrums, jokes about panties, and many delays as lawyers bicker over what evidence to allow in court.
But as attorneys fight over a video of Mirkarimi's wife, Eliana Lopez, allegedly showing the bruise to a neighbor, Mirkarimi's attorneys also moved to have the trial shifted out of San Francisco, according to reports -- and that would be a disaster for the embattled sheriff, according to legal experts.
"If they send this off to Red Bluff or Weed - a liberal San Francisco politician - he'd sink like a rock," Peter Keane, professor emeritus of law at Golden Gate University, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
San Francisco juries are typically more tolerant, more liberal, and side more often with the defendant, Keane said. These are not qualities easily found elsewhere in California.
Yet Mirkarimi's lawyers requested the change, an odd move two months into proceedings, experts said. And one that's sure to drag out what was supposed to be a one-week trial
Moving Mirkarimi Trial Out of SF Would Backfire, Experts Say
San Francisco juries are typically more tolerant, and side more often with the defendant, one legal expert said.
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