San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee said that he would suspend a Democratic sheriff who was recently sentenced in a domestic violence case.
Despite pleading guilty for falsely imprisoning his wife and being sentenced to three years of probation, Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi refused to resign his political post. This led Lee to suspend the sheriff, the first step in removing him from the office, the LA Times reports.
After reviewing the city charter, evidence in the case and consulting with the city attorney, Lee said, he gave Mirkarimi an opportunity to resign. The sheriff refused, the mayor told reporters Tuesday, "and now I must act."
"As public officials, our first responsibility must always be to fulfill the obligations entrusted to us by the people of San Francisco," Lee said. "We must always be held to the highest legal and ethical standards. Sheriff Mirkarimi's actions and the confession of guilt clearly fall below these standards of decency and good faith."