JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has announced that she will not be filing any further charges in the case against Eric Greitens that was referred to her office last month.
Baker said in a statement on Friday that after “a diligent review of evidence, she is declining to file further charges.”
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.
And with the statute of limitations set to expire this weekend, Baker said that her office did not have sufficient evidence to consider filing new charges. Still missing was corroborating evidence for an invasion of privacy case, Baker noted.
Baker had been appointed by St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison on May 21 to take over the case after St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner dropped the charge for the invasion of privacy, stemming from allegations that Greitens had taken an unauthorized photo of a partially nude woman in a 2015 extramarital affair. Greitens was indicted by a St. Louis grand jury earlier this year for that matter.
Gardner dropped a second felony charge against Greitens in late May in exchange for Greitens’ resignation.
Following Baker’s announcement, the woman involved in Greitens’ 2015 affair released a statement through her attorney in response to the announcement.
“My client and I would like to thank the members of the special prosecuting attorney’s office and the investigators from the Missouri Highway Patrol who worked tirelessly on this case. She is grateful to all who have supported her and believed her testimony. That support lifted her spirits and helped her through this challenging time.
No woman should have to endure the trauma that comes from her ex-husband selling her private story for a six-figure payout. No woman should have to turn on the television and watch as the most private and difficult moments of her life are broadcast despite pleading with the reporter for privacy. No woman should be forced to answer countless hours of highly personal questions that are in no way relevant to the issue of whether a nude photograph was taken without her consent. The most intimate details of her life were made public by a vengeful ex-husband and a second man willing to spend millions of dollars spreading lies about her in an effort to save his political career. My client did not ask for any of this treatment nor was she paid or otherwise compensated. No legal funds were created and no pleas for donations were made by her or on her behalf.
As my client, and the citizens of this state, move past this difficult time in Missouri’s history we hope other women in similar situations are not discouraged by this process. It takes real courage to testify once, let alone six times, but that courage exposes the truth.”
Benjamin Peters was a reporter for The Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine and also produced the #MoLeg Podcast. He joined The Missouri Times in 2016 after working as a sports editor and TV news producer in mid-Missouri. Benjamin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield.
