One of the most emotional pieces of evidence in the domestic violence case against suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, a video of his tearful wife that she fought strenuously to keep from public view, may now be used to oust the sheriff for official misconduct.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Garrett Wong on Tuesday ordered the video released to Mayor Ed Lee, who wants to use it in administrative proceedings to try to remove Mirkarimi from office over a Dec. 31 incident with his wife, Eliana Lopez, in which he grabbed her arm hard enough to bruise it.

The mayor has also accused Mirkarimi of trying to thwart the police investigation by dissuading witnesses, including Lopez. The sheriff's attorneys say such allegations are "slanderous."

The video, shot by a neighbor whom Lopez confided in the day after the altercation, was seized by police using a search warrant and was being held for use in Mirkarimi's misdemeanor criminal case.

Wong's ruling to hand it over to the mayor infuriated Lopez's attorney, Paula Canny, who stormed from the courtroom cursing under her breath.

Canny had sought to keep private the video, in which Lopez points to a bruise on her arm and says, "This is the second time this is happening." At the very least, Canny wanted the judge to issue a ruling preventing the video from being aired publicly, arguing it would quickly go viral online - an invasion of privacy akin to revictimizing Lopez.

Wong's refusal to place restrictions on the video or delay his ruling for 48 hours to allow Canny to file an appeal prompted an exasperated Canny to reply in court with a sarcastic: "Awesome."

"What is happening in that courtroom is just flat-out wrong," Canny said moments later in the corridor. "They don't want to protect Eliana. They don't want to protect her rights. They are so out of their mind to get Ross Mirkarimi that they don't care who they step on."

Canny said she would file an appeal Wednesday.

Can't block release

Wong, in issuing his ruling, noted that the video's owner, Lopez's neighbor Ivory Madison, had consented to it being turned over to the mayor. He also said the state's Victims' Bill of Rights, which Canny relied on in part, didn't provide Lopez with the right to block the video's release.

Deputy City Attorney Peter Keith, who is representing the mayor, argued that Lopez had forfeited her relevant privacy rights by making repeated public comments about the case, which she has called a coup d'etat orchestrated by her husband's political opponents that has destroyed her family.

"Ms. Lopez made repeated public statements about the videotape," Keith said. "She's attacked its credibility. She's attacked the motives of the prosecution. ... We think the court was correct in deciding a person can't speak publicly on a matter, but then turn around and use the right to privacy to keep information that tends to support the opposite view from the public."

Lopez maintains that she sought legal advice from Madison, who has a law degree but is not a licensed attorney, and that the video is protected by attorney-client privilege.

'Sought legal advice'

"I sought legal advice from Ivory Madison about custody issues. I did not seek her help 'as a friend,' " Lopez wrote in a Chronicle opinion piece in April. "Ivory Madison promised me that our conversation was confidential and that the video that she advised me to make would be secret."

Madison shot the video the morning after the couple argued about Lopez taking their young son, Theo, to visit her family in her native Venezuela, according to documents filed in the criminal case.

Lopez and Mirkarimi's lawyers also tried to bar the video from the criminal case, efforts that a trial court and appellate division rejected.

Sheriff was suspended

But before the tape could be used, Mirkarimi pleaded guilty in March to a single count of misdemeanor false imprisonment instead of facing three charges, which included domestic violence battery. Lee suspended the sheriff two days later and is seeking to remove him, arguing the plea deal and alleged efforts to cover up the incident make him unsuitable to serve as sheriff. After a hearing before the Ethics Commission, the Board of Supervisors will decide if Mirkarimi gets to keep his job.

Also Thursday, a different judge ordered that limited mobile phone records from Mirkarimi's campaign manager be turned over to the mayor as he seeks evidence that Mirkarimi tried to tamper with the police investigation.

Judge Harold Kahn, though, denied the mayor's request for a court order compelling the former campaign manager, Linnette Peralta Haynes, to comply with a mayoral subpoena and submit to questioning from the mayor's legal team.

John Coté is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.