An attorney for Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens believes a special prosecutor won’t end up charging the GOP chief executive with any crimes.
This comes as Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has latitude to look beyond whether Greitens took a semi-nude photo of a woman he had an affair with, without her consent.
After St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner last week dropped the invasion of privacy charge against Greitens, she promised to ask for a special prosecutor to handle the case. St. Louis Judge Rex Burlison appointed Baker, a Democratic prosecutor who has been on the job since 2011.
Greitens' attorney Jack Garvey told reporters on Tuesday that once “another set of eyes” looks at the case, that person will “see that there is no evidence of any crime.”
“We’re very confident that there will be no more charges,” Garvey said.
With only days before the trial was supposed to start, Gardner never found the semi-nude photo that she said Greitens took — nor was there evidence a photo was sent to the iCloud or a computer. Legal experts say that makes it harder for a prosecutor to prove an invasion of privacy charge.
But Burlison’s order allows Baker to look into "alleged criminal activity in regard to an incident on March 21, 2015.” It also allows Baker to examine “other incidents involving the same victim from that date through September 1, 2015.” That leaves open the possibility that Baker could charge Greitens with something else, especially because the woman told House investigators she faced sexual and physical abuse. Greitens strongly denies those allegations and adds he didn’t break any laws.
When asked if there was any fear Baker would charge Greitens with something other than invasion of privacy, Garvey replied: “The facts are the facts. I mean, that’s it.”
“You can’t get a crime out of something that’s not there,” Garvey said. “I mean there’s always prosecutorial discretion — and we understand that. But that’s it. I don’t think there’s any fear at all. We’re just happy that it’s not in the circuit attorney’s office right now.”
Investigator in the spotlight
Gardner dismissed the case last week after Burlison ruled that she could be called to testify as a witness. An investigator she hired, former FBI agent William Tisaby, allegedly made false statements during a deposition. And because he invoked his 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination, Burlison granted Greitens’ attorneys request to make Gardner a witness instead.
Garvey said that he and other members of Greitens’ legal team plan to call both Tisaby and Gardner as witnesses if Baker files other charges. He also said they’ll be called if Greitens’ felony computer data tampering case moves forward.
“Tisaby is all over this,” Garvey said. “He’s all over in the first case and he’s all over in the second case. He admitted in his deposition that he interviewed and supervised interviews of people involved in the second case. It was clear that he was involved in that case. As much as the circuit attorney wanted to downplay his role, he was all over that case.”
Gardner’s office has said Tisaby played a minor role in the computer data tampering case, where Greitens is accused of improperly obtaining a fundraising list from The Mission Continues. A judge on Tuesday continued that case until July 2.
Garvey said Greitens’ attorneys are seeking to get a special prosecutor in that case as well. He said there will be hearing on that matter next week.
Follow Jason on Twitter: @jrosenbaum
