Access to Greitens-prosecutor agreement should be open, says Attorney General’s Office

In a letter to the office of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who dropped a criminal charge against former Gov. Eric Greitens on the condition he resign, Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office said the agreement between the two parties should be accessible under the state’s Sunshine Law.

Only a redacted version of a portion of the agreement has been released since Greitens resigned on Friday. Hawley, the state’s chief lawyer, says the agreement, or stipulation, should be accessible to the public.

“You have represented to us that no court has ordered any portion of that document to be sealed,” Hawley’s office said in the letter on Tuesday. “Contracts entered into by governmental entities are precisely the type of records the Sunshine Law seeks to provide to the public.”

In the document, Gardner agreed to drop the felony tampering with computer data charge against Greitens with prejudice once he stepped down as governor. Greitens also agreed to not take any additional legal action against Gardner’s office.

“Two provisions of the Stipulation have been redacted” in the currently public versions of the agreement, according to Hawley’s office. “The unredacted Stipulation constitutes an open record under the Sunshine law.