Jackson County Prosecutor will not bring charges against Greitens in invasion of privacy case

While Jean Peters Baker believed there was probable cause to charge Eric Greitens for conduct related to his 2015 affair, the former governor’s former mistress influenced her decision not to file charges.

“In my interview with this victim, she made clear that she did not wish to go it alone,” Baker said. “In the words of this victim, ‘My heart just can’t bear it.'”

Baker made the announcement just two hours before the statute of limitations on a felony charge for invasion of privacy expired Friday afternoon. Greitens had faced that charge in St. Louis, but prosecutors there dropped it after being called as a witness in the impending trial. A judge appointed Baker’s office to review the case and decide whether or not to refile charges.

Baker said the deadline weighed heavy on them, combined with the task to find the corroborating evidence the alleged victim in the case desired. She said the matter was made worse by Greitens’ defense team handing over evidence that it extracted 31,000 files from his cellphone in April. A special master in St. Louis had reviewed just 16,000 files on that phone, and found none that included the former mistress.

“I cannot begin to express my level of frustration in simply trying to get potential evidence in this case,” Baker said. “Especially working against the clock.”

Jim Martin, one of Greitens’ attorneys, said they gave Baker’s office both data extractions, as well as the phone itself within the last two weeks. The forensic expert that handled the phone, Martin said, claimed no photos were missing between the two extractions.

“We do not know what files are claimed to be missing, but we know the expert said that the May extraction did not have less photos than the April extraction,” Martin told ABC 17 News.

You can watch the live press conference at 3:00 p.m. here.

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You can read the Baker’s written statement below:

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today that after a diligent review of evidence, she is declining to file further charges in the Eric Greitens case referred to her office last month.

Baker’s office received a file from the Circuit Attorney of St. Louis on May 22, 2018. Since then, she and a team of assistant prosecutors have exhausted potential leads in examining submitted evidence and enlisting the Missouri Highway Patrol to investigate issues in this case.

As of today, with a statute of limitations set to expire this weekend, Baker stated that her office did not have sufficient evidence to consider filing new charges in the Greitens case. Still missing was corroborating evidence for an invasion of privacy case, Baker noted.

K.S., the former mistress of Greitens, has released the statement below via her lawyer.