Greitens subpoenaed in Sunshine Law case

The Cole County Circuit Court issued a subpoena Thursday for former Governor Eric Greitens to produce documents in relation to an ongoing case about possible violations to Missouri’s Sunshine Law.

Attorney Elad Gross, who is running for Missouri attorney general in 2020 as a Democrat, filed the lawsuit against the Governor’s Office in October.

The newest subpoena in the case asks for Greitens to produce “any and all communications, recordings, calendars, notes and/or other documents involving (Greitens), campaign donors, state employees, consultants, and/or others and the use of dark money, anonymous campaign donations, plans or processes to conceal public records, and/or nonprofit organizations for political purposes.”

The document asks for Greitens to appear on March 13 at 9:30 a.m.

This comes just 10 days after U.S. Senator Josh Hawley was subpoenaed in the same case.

Hawley’s legal team at a Jefferson City law firm filed a motion last week saying that a judge never approved the motion and that the man who filed the suit, Gross, has offered no evidence that Hawley has relevant evidence to provide in the case.

MU journalism professor and legal expert Sandra Davidson said subpoenas could be more difficult to quash given that the respondants in this case are public officials.

“Public officials have a little bit different standard of what they would have to prove because we’re talking very much about a public issue,” said Davidson. “We’re talking about public documents, things that the public arguably has a right to see.”

A hearing for Hawley’s motion to quash the subpoena is scheduled for March 1, and is a status hearing for the open records lawsuit is scheduled for March 4.

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