By Ben Striker and Brian Robbins
St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss the felony invasion of privacy case against Gov. Eric Greitens.
Although he struck down the defense’s request for dismissal, Burlison did grant the defense permission to re-depose William Tisaby, a former FBI agent hired by St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office to help with the investigation, as well as K.S., the woman at the center of the case, and her ex-husband, known only as P.S.
Burlison said the deposition is limited to the notes and video evidence that had just been recently turned over by the prosecutors.
Scott Rosenblum, one of Greitens’ defense attorneys, requested that dates and times for the depositions be set immediately Thursday. The prosecution requested that the depositions have a limit, citing that K.S. had already been put through eight hours of questioning.
Burlison said he would not rule on when or how long the depositions would take place but added that if both parties could not agree on a date, he would set one.
Furthermore, Burlison ordered that the defense must cover the costs of all three depositions.
Burlison also said he could bring further sanctions and reevaluate the motion to dismiss if it is proven the prosecution withholds evidence again.
“If further conduct is brought to light, the court will look again at defendant’s sanctions of dismissal,” Burlison said during the hearing.
The sanctions arose when defense attorney Jim Martin accused Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner last week of not providing the defense with a two hour videotaped interview with the Missouri governor’s former mistress in January. Greitens’ lawyers said they were told the interview, conducted by Tisaby, was lost because the video recorder “malfunctioned.”
Martin said the supposedly broken videotape of the alleged victim’s deposition “magically appeared” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, just one hour after the Missouri Special Investigative Committee on Oversight released a scathing report on the governor.
Ed Dowd says he won’t discuss anything about the case due to the judge’s gag order. pic.twitter.com/iYhPq9sZi1
— Clayton Times (@ClaytonTimes) April 19, 2018
In addition to the videotape being presented to the defense, Martin argued that Tisaby lied under oath when he said he did not take notes during the interview with the former mistress of Greitens in a March 19 deposition at Carnahan Courthouse.
The defense showed a picture of the investigator in court, sitting next to Gardner, taking notes. The defense team alleged Gardner did not disclose that information to them, accused Tisaby of perjury and asked for sanctions against Gardner.
Greitens is accused of allegedly taking a picture of a bound and partially nude woman with whom he was having an affair with at the time and threatened to blackmail her if she made the affair public.
House Report
Last week, a report was released by the House Special Investigate Committee on Oversight, detailed the alleged conduct by Greitens with a woman who testified under oath that Greitens subjected her to non-consensual sexual activity and violence.
The report detailed the victim’s testimony that Greitens slapped her and called her a whore during one particular encounter. The report also detailed instances of slapping, shoving, and grabbing. On more than one occasion the woman was reduced to tears.
The committee was on a fact-finding mission regarding Greitens’ affair with his St. Louis-based hairdresser and a tape made available to KMOV regarding an incident where he allegedly takes a picture of her without her consent and uses it to ensure her silence.
He has denied the blackmail, has not confirmed or denied a picture, and called the investigation a “witch hunt” into a consensual relationship.
Just an hour before the report was released Greitens pushback against the findings calling them “lies.”
The report, which focuses on the unnamed woman’s recounting of events, pulls into question just how consensual the relationship was and other claims that have been made in recent weeks. Greitens declined to testify and did not respond to any of the committee’s request for documents and sworn answers to written interrogatories.
The House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight was formed by Speaker Todd Richardson on February 27, 2018, following the grand jury indictment of Greitens on a felony invasion-of-privacy charge in St. Louis.
