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Judge denies deposition request of former Missouri Democratic party chairman in Greitens’ invasion of privacy case

St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison ruled Thursday he would not allow Governor Eric Greitens’ lawyers to question the former Missouri Democratic party chairman.

In a hearing at Carnahan Courthouse, Burlison turned down a request from Greitens’ lawyer Ed Dowd to depose Roy Temple over whether or not he made payments to the Greitens accuser’s ex-husband, P.S., in the past, following an affair she had with Greitens in 2015 before he was elected.

Temple has denied making any payments multiple times. Dowd said he wanted to know what the ex-husband said to Temple.

Temple’s lawyer Joseph Bednar said his client’s deposition would not be relevant in the case and Burlison agreed.

“He was not in the basement of the defendant’s house,” Bednar said of his client.

In another argument Thursday, Circuit Attorney trial assistant Robert Dierker said prosecutors would not comply with a Missouri House subpoena for information on the Greitens invasion of privacy case, saying it would contradict a Burlison order restricting the release of case information.

Former State Supreme Court Judge Edward Robertson, who is representing and advising the Missouri Special Investigative Committee on Oversight, was scheduled to appear in court Thursday seeking information on the case.

Burlison said he received an email from Robertson before the hearing asking to appear at a later date.

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. The trial is set to begin May 14.