SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco's sheriff pleaded guilty Monday to false imprisonment, avoiding a domestic violence trial that could have cost him his job and ending the public airing of a personal drama worthy of the Venezuela telenovela that his wife once starred in.

Ross Mirkarimi, 50, accepted the deal Sunday night, after an appeals court said an emotional video of his 36-year-old wife displaying a bruised bicep could be shown to the jury. The deal also appears to have defused a politically charged atmosphere that included a support group for domestic violence victims erecting a downtown billboard taking a shot at Mirkarimi's claim that the incident was a "private matter."

The plea on a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment in San Francisco Superior Court derailed a trial that promised to smear the sheriff with tawdry allegations of abusive behavior, infidelity and another woman's underwear.

Political commentators and legal analysts said the plea bargain was a reasonable end to an only-in-San Francisco political drama.

"He cut a good deal, and he did get a break," said Peter Keane, a Golden Gate University law professor

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