This Wednesday prosecutors and lawyers for Democrat Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi are scheduled to appear before Judge Gerardo Sandoval of San Francisco Superior Court to set a date for her preliminary hearing on felony grand theft shoplifting charges stemming from Hayashi’s departing from the Union Square Neiman-Marcus store last month with $2,450 in merchandise she did not pay for. Hayashi was excused from having to appear at the scheduling hearing on December 7, however, state law requires that she attend the preliminary hearing when it is finally scheduled, although she cannot be compelled to testify at that hearing.
