St. Louis judge to rule on Greitens case dismissal Thursday

A St. Louis judge will decide Thursday whether or not to throw out Gov. Eric Greitens criminal case.

ABC 17 previously reported that Greitens’ defense team wants the judge to dismiss the invasion of privacy charge against him. The governor’s lawyers have claimed that prosecutors have withheld important information.

The defense team has criticized the private investigator the prosecutors hired for the case. Don Tisaby, a former FBI agent, has faced criticism from Greitens’ defense team for the way he handled interview notes and his failure to hand over those notes to the defense team.

During the hearing Monday, attorneys said they received notes from Tisaby’s interview of a friend of the governor’s mistress. Jim Martin, a defense lawyer, says there is one note where the friend claims the mistress told her she thought Greitens cared for her.

Martin said Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s office was “oblivious” to their obligations in turning over evidence, and argued it was grounds for dismissal.

“How is anyone going to learn their lesson if this case isn’t dismissed?” Martin said in court.

Prosecutors admitted that Tisaby’s actions looked bad, but did not believe Burlison should throw out the case over the issue. Robert Dierker, Gardner’s chief trial assistant, also criticized Tisaby’s tactics.

“To say he is Inspector Clouseau would be a compliment,” Dierker said, referring to the fictitious bumbling French police officer in “The Pink Panther” movies.

Dierker continued that the discovery issues did not hurt the merits of the case. He said only two people — Greitens and his former mistress — know what happened in the governor’s basement in 2015, and that the mistress was being “wrung out” for information by the defense.

The case has gotten national attention. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said they are aware of the case against the governor and believes the allegations are concerning. State Sen. Rob Schaaf, R – St. Joseph, sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking that he tell Greitens to resign over the situation.

Ed Dowd, one of Greitens’ attorneys, declined to say whether or not President Trump has spoken to the Republican governor about the situation.

Gardner said the House of Representatives’ special investigative committee sent a subpoena to her office for the video deposition of Greitens’ mistress handed over to the defense last week. Burlison told Gardner to hold onto the video until he could further review the subpoena.

Defense attorneys are also seeking a subpoena for bank records connected to the mistress’s ex-husband. The House committee’s report last week revealed that a third party paid $15,000 to a trust in his name to pay for legal expenses related to the case.

(Editor’s note: This story has been updated from its original version, titled ‘Greitens’ legal team and St. Louis Circuit Attorney meet for pre-trial hearing’.)