Pretty good write-up by David Grossman at the Federalist. A bit long, but good read nonetheless.

quote:

Why the Prosecutor in the Eric Greitens case could be the One who ends up in Jail

It is very possible that Kim Gardner will lose this trial, and the process by which this case was handled will prove a case study in how not to prosecute.

Lt Col Dave Grossman - the Federalist

quote:

It didn’t take long for the wheels to start coming off the wagon of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s prosecution of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.

An indictment with dubious origins and few facts has led to a trial with almost unbelievable moments of legal comedy. There was the initial hearing, when the prosecution admitted to the judge that they don’t have evidence to win the trial. Then there the moment when the prosecutors had to tell the defense that they didn’t have the photo that is supposedly the reason for the indictment in the first place.

And last, but most certainly not least, there was the moment when the prosecution allegedly broke the law by bringing on a prosecutor who was serving elsewhere as a criminal defense attorney. Yep, that’s a crime in the state of Missouri, and the prosecution allegedly committed it. Whoops.

He also speaks to the prosecutor's eagerness to go after police officers, much more than she goes after criminals, as was mentioned here earlier.

quote:

Lt Col Dave Grossman - the Federalist

Lt Col Grossman was the chair of the military science department at Arkansas State when I was there. Very intelligent man. If you haven't read his book "On Killing" you should. When Arkansas passed the concealed carry law he and his family took the same class I did. He was a hoot at the range.

quote:

Originally posted by jsbcody:
I saw a really nice property up there: good house with 33 acres of turkey and deer land....smack dab in the middle of a large Amish community (no worries of loud parties by the neighbors).

Q: What goes "Clop... clop... clop... BANG! ... clop... clop?"

A: An Amish drive-by shooting

It just keeps getting better: the Presecutor after telling the defense attorneys that the tape recording of the mistress' statement was not working right or was lost (big difference between those two choices).......wait for it........ has found the lost tape...and it works fine. According to the Persecutor, she found it Monday and turned it over to the defense team on Wednesday.

^^^ Yep, Kim Gardner is both incompetent AND a liar.
The criminal case against Greitens should never have been brought and is going no where....

Greitens' fight for political survival could be tougher than ever in the #MeToo era

The biggest threat facing Gov. Eric Greitens right now might not be Missouri legislators pondering impeachment, or even a St. Louis prosecutor pressing a felony case.

His biggest threat might be the era in which we live.

It’s difficult to imagine a worse time for a sitting governor to try to navigate a scandal involving alleged sexual violence than this particular moment in America’s cultural history: Pink-hatted protesters fill the streets as the #MeToo hashtag dominates social media. The Harvey Weinsteins and Bill Cosbys of the world are, for really the first time ever, on the run.

Now isn’t when a politician wants to have to explain to his constituents the things Missouri, and America, read in legislative committee testimony about Greitens released last week.

“Events like the #MeToo movement have sensitized all of us to issues of violence against women,” says Penny Weiss, a political science professor and director of Women’s Studies at St. Louis University. “The aspects of this case that deal with nonconsensual sexual encounters are becoming more familiar to us, and so easier to oppose. Earlier, we had ways of writing it off.”

Lana Stein, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, agreed. “These details,” she said, perhaps understating things, “I don’t think are going to play very well with women.”

Of course, political sex scandals are as old as politics, and marital infidelity alone is no longer considered an automatic disqualifier for officeholders today — not in an age that has seen presidents such as Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. When Greitens in January admitted to the extramarital affair alone, politicos like John Hancock thought he might survive.

No more. “The level of sensitivity to manipulation and abuse of women has increased,” Hancock, a former Missouri Republican Party chairman, said Friday. “This was not ‘an affair’ ... There’s no scenario in which this thing looks anything other than repulsive.”

Read the House Committee's report on Greitens
Read the report from the Missouri House investigation committee.

If America today is more tolerant than ever about sex, it is less so than ever about sexual violence. And that was the new element in what Greitens’ ex-lover told a Missouri House committee in comments released last week: that he allegedly brought to their sexual encounters physical restraint, threats and, in three instances she described, slaps or shoves.

The woman also alleged instances of calculated manipulation and verbal misogyny that could cause many women to write Greitens off, regardless of what happens with the criminal case or impeachment talk.

“Every woman I’ve talked to who’s read it has been horrified,” says Jane Dueker, an attorney with longtime Democratic Party connections and a vocal critic of the Republican governor, who nonetheless declared herself surprised at the details of the latest allegations. “I’ve not found any woman who doesn’t feel that way.”

Indeed, some of the most blistering reaction has come from female Republican officeholders.

“The transcripts paint the picture of a vulnerable woman and a man who preyed on that vulnerability,” U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, said in a statement last week. “I am disgusted, disheartened, and I believe Governor Greitens is unfit to lead our state.”

Several female Republican state legislators also have called on Greitens to step down.

“I think there has been something nonpartisan about the #MeToo movement,” said Weiss, the SLU professor. “The idea that this is transcending partisan boundaries ... has got transformative potential.”

Greitens, in a written statement following the release of the committee testimony Wednesday, again denied any violent or nonconsensual acts. He also expressed confidence that his upcoming criminal trial will exonerate him.

“This was an entirely consensual relationship, and any allegation of violence or sexual assault is false. This was a months-long consenting relationship between two adults,” Greitens said in the statement. “...[A] court of law and a jury of my peers will let every person in Missouri know the truth and prove my innocence.”

The court of public opinion, though, is already solidifying, in part along gender lines.

A recent Mason-Dixon poll of Greitens’ standing in Missouri found his overall approval rating is underwater, and highlighted particularly how much trouble he is in with women. It found that 54 percent of female poll respondents thought he should resign, compared to fewer than a third who thought he shouldn’t. Those were significantly worse numbers for Greitens than among men.

“The nature of the situation that (Greitens) is in certainly rubs a lot of women the wrong way,” pollster Brad Coker told the Post-Dispatch when the poll was released last week — just before the most graphic of the allegations were revealed by the committee report.
‘I was a thing to him’

Greitens, who took office less than 16 months ago, was indicted in February on a single felony charge of invasion of privacy, for allegedly snapping and transmitting a nonconsensual semi-nude photo of his hair stylist during an extramarital encounter in 2015, the year before he was elected.

As serious as any criminal charge is, the felony case against Greitens — based on an unusual application of a Missouri law, and apparently without evidence of the photo in question — might ultimately be less threatening to his immediate political future than last week’s release of the Missouri House committee transcripts.

The transcripts, of closed-door interviews with Greitens’ former lover and others, paint a picture of a man who charms, grooms and coerces a casual acquaintance into a series of sexual liaisons that eventually turn violent.

Among the allegations are that he slapped her across the face during one sexual encounter after she told him she’d had sex with her husband; that he restrained her from leaving his basement during another encounter, then pressured her to give him oral sex even though she was crying; that he touched her crotch without consent in public; and that he once “spanked” her, again without consent.

The transcripts were also filled with claims that don’t rise to the level of crimes, but — particularly in today’s environment — could be just as toxic politically as a criminal charge.

The woman claims Greitens coaxed her into coming to his St. Louis home, ostensibly to talk, but he had laid out clothing for her to wear for what was clearly a thought-out sexual encounter.

She says he bound her hands, blindfolded her and spit water into her mouth — events she said she was “confused” and “shocked” about.

At one point, she claims, he called her “a little whore.”

“He basically made it clear that he felt I was a thing to him,” the woman testified.
Read the transcripts of witness testimony to the House Committee
Read the transcripts of witness testimony to the House Committee

Several witnesses testified under oath before the committee, but not Gov. Eric Greitens.

By the woman’s own account, she returned to engage in sexual encounters with Greitens repeatedly, even after leaving earlier encounters crying and shaken.

It’s one element of her story that might have caused wider disbelief a few years ago than now, with today’s deeper awareness of the psychological issues related to sexual violence.

“Many are questioning why this woman did not come forward, but her behavior is not atypical of those who are in abusive relationships,” said state Rep. Jean Evans, R-Manchester, who has called for Greitens to resign.

“She was afraid of her husband and Eric Greitens. It really isn’t unusual for her not to come forward. She was in a very vulnerable state” with a husband she described as controlling, “and in that vulnerable situation, the governor took advantage of her.”

Greitens’ wife, Sheena Greitens, an assistant professor in the department of political science at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has mostly stayed out of the public eye since her husband’s scandal broke open in January.

But she did make the case, during a January speech to the St. Louis Business Journal’s Women’s Conference, that Greitens’ administration has empowered women in government.

“There are more women serving in cabinet positions in Eric’s administration than in any other administration in Missouri’s history,” Sheena Greitens told the gathering, without referencing the scandal. “We all know that the gender gap in public leadership is a serious issue. Women are shaping public policy and leading public policy.”

http://www.stltoday.com/news/l...ource=home-top-story

If this prosecutor is really this bad, how does she get punished? Or is she allowed to abuse the law and her position with impunity? I mean how do you fight back against stuff like this?

The left is abusing the law and citizens without any type of repercussions it seems. I just can't fathom that there is no way to deal with people like this.

If there is no legal recourse to fight abuses like this then we are lost as a society.

Or it could be entirely made up.

quote:

If this prosecutor is really this bad, how does she get punished? Or is she allowed to abuse the law and her position with impunity?

Affirmative action law school grads.... Mosby, Gardner, Obama (her) et al.
Affirmative action failures--and there are NO successes as the smart ones don't need AA!

They get away with whatever they want because... You are Racist! if you stand up to them.

BUT Gov. Greitens' bigger problem is political rather than this trumped-up charge. Kim Gardner may completely fail to bring a criminal case against him, but still succeed in bringing him down. His problem is that in the #MeToo era Republicans in the House are turning against him. He may be impeached.

I liked the part where the prosecution couldn't produce the photo and the "victim" said it might have been a dream. Pure gold.

Chellim, everything I've heard on the news and radio seems to indicate that per the MO constitution, nothing Greitens has done falls within an impeachable offense. There is obviously a lot of noise and grandstanding, and ultimately his future political career my be at an end but there doesn't seem to be any thing to bring impeachment.

One thing about all this that really gets me is the hypocricy behind all the news. The Fox anchor women was squirmy in her chair when she started talking about all the racy stuff in the comittee report. She appeared to be getting turned-on contemplating the rather graphic testimony in the report. (She probably wanted a "spanking") I haven't read it myself but, by all accounts, its "penthouse forum" grade porn. All of which I find really humerous because these women that are making statements are part of the same group that made "Fifty Shade of Gray" both a best seller and a blockbuster movie. Now they are espousing moral outrage, gimme a break.

Ken

quote:

All of which I find really humerous because these women that are making statements are part of the same group that made "Fifty Shade of Gray" both a best seller and a blockbuster movie. Now they are espousing moral outrage, gimme a break.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

quote:

everything I've heard on the news and radio seems to indicate that per the MO constitution, nothing Greitens has done falls within an impeachable offense. There is obviously a lot of noise and grandstanding, and ultimately his future political career my be at an end but there doesn't seem to be any thing to bring impeachment.

It depends on the meaning of "moral turpitude":
Which is... whatever the House Judiciary Committee thinks it is....

According to Section 1 of Article 7 of the Missouri Constitution, any executive officials in the state is "liable to impeachment for crimes, misconduct, and habitual drunkenness, willful neglect of duty, and corruption in office, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude or oppression in office."

"And if any of those offenses were committed and the House Judiciary Committee feels they were serious enough then it would move to the whole house for a vote on these articles of impeachment,"

It depends on the meaning of "moral turpitude":
Which is... whatever the House Judiciary Committee thinks it is....

According to Section 1 of Article 7 of the Missouri Constitution, any executive officials in the state is "liable to impeachment for crimes, misconduct, and habitual drunkenness, willful neglect of duty, and corruption in office, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude or oppression in office."

I'm wondering what the charges could possibly be if the 'victim' proclaims publicly 'it may have all been a dream'.....

Greitens is toast.
It has nothing to do with the "felony invasion of privacy" charge.
Josh Hawley is going after him for using the Mission Continues donor list for political purposes.

Hawley says Greitens may have committed felony after using donor list to raise money

JEFFERSON CITY • Attorney General Josh Hawley said Tuesday that his office had uncovered evidence that Gov. Eric Greitens may have committed a felony after using a charity donor list to solicit donations to fuel his 2016 campaign for governor.

Hawley announced an investigation into The Mission Continues charity last month with a focus on whether Greitens used charity resources to boost his career.

"In the course of this investigation, we have uncovered evidence of wrongdoing that goes beyond Missouri's charity laws," Hawley, who like Greitens is a Republican, told reporters Tuesday morning. "To be specific, within the past several days, we have obtained evidence of potential criminal violations."

Hawley said his office possessed evidence that Greitens obtained and transmitted the donor list without the permission of The Mission Continues, a charity Greitens founded in 2007 but left in 2014.

"If proven, these acts could amount to the unauthorized taking and use of property, in this case, electronic property," Hawley said. "Under Missouri law, this is known as computer tampering. And given the value of the list in question, it is a felony."

Hawley said his office could not prosecute Greitens for the alleged digital tampering, but that jurisdiction rests with local prosecutors, in this case St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, a Democrat.

"The deadline for the statute of limitations is fast approaching," Hawley said. "A charging decision must be made very soon. ... Yesterday, my office secured court permission to share all evidence we have collected with the circuit attorney's office in St. Louis."

In a statement, Susan Ryan, spokeswoman for Gardner's office, said that circuit attorney staff met with the attorney general's staff on Monday.

"The AG’s team provided information they have gathered to us, and we are reviewing the evidence," Ryan said. "We can’t discuss any specifics at this time, as the investigation is ongoing."

Hawley said on March 23 that he had subpoenaed 15 current or former staffers of The Mission Continues, a veterans charity which Greitens founded in 2007 but left in 2014.

The attorney general's office also subpoenaed Greitens through The Greitens Group, the company Greitens established to coordinate his book sales, Hawley announced recently.

Hawley, a Republican running to unseat U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., this year, also called on Greitens to resign last week after a Missouri House committee investigating Greitens released a report containing accusations of violence and sexual misconduct against Greitens.

On Monday, Greitens' attorney, Ed Dowd, asked Hawley to recuse himself from investigating the embattled Republican chief executive, saying in a news release that the attorney general's statement "compromises the AGO’s own ongoing investigation of Gov. Greitens."

Greitens, a former Navy Seal, founded The Mission Continues in 2007. His alleged use of a fundraising list from the charity is under investigation.

Hawley refused to recuse himself. His office said Hawley was reacting to allegations of "egregious sexual misconduct," adding that "the Attorney General’s investigation into The Mission Continues does not address those allegations."

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office is also investigating The Mission Continues, as well as the special Missouri House committee. Last week, Laura L'Esperance, spokeswoman for the charity, said that it is cooperating with all three probes and that "we're looking forward to the completion of their efforts."

Hawley's announcement follows a year and a half of off-and-on news regarding the Greitens campaign's use of a donor list from The Mission Continues, which the Associated Press first reported on in October 2016.

At the time, Greitens, a Republican, was locked in a heated campaign with then-Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat. Greitens had raised $2 million from donors who had also given generously to The Mission Continues, the AP reported, but he denied using a donor list to solicit any money.

Still, Democrats filed a complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission accusing Greitens of receiving an in-kind campaign contribution without reporting it on campaign disclosure forms.

Greitens and his campaign settled the complaint with the ethics commission in April 2017. The campaign was fined $100 and put on a two-year probationary period.

Former Greitens campaign workers say they and others were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements.

As part of the settlement, the campaign revised its filings to show that Danny Laub, Greitens' first campaign manager, donated the list to the campaign on March 1, 2015. The in-kind contribution was valued at $600.

Greitens never said how Laub obtained the list. The Mission Continues has said that it did not authorize use of the list or supply it to the Greitens campaign. Doing so would jeopardize the charity's tax-exempt status; charities are not allowed to take sides in elections.

The Post-Dispatch revealed in February that it was one of Greitens' employees at The Greitens Group, Krystal Taylor, who forwarded The Mission Continues' donor list to Laub and another staffer, Michael Hafner, on Jan. 6, 2015 — nearly two months before the campaign had said.

The revelation sparked a new round of reports regarding Greitens' cozy ties to his former charity, including his use of a charity email address to arrange political meetings and his apparent use of a charity email list to promote his political aspirations and hawk at least one of his books.

Roy Temple, the former chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party, subsequently filed a complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission accusing Greitens of lying on his amended filings by stating Laub was the list donor, when the list in fact came from someone else.

He also accused Greitens of violating the ethics commission's probation by failing to report receipt of the charity email list, which could be considered another in-kind contribution.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/l...ource=home-top-story

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chellim1,

May 12, 2018

The Great Greitens Railroading
By Timothy Birdnow

Eric Greitens was a Democrat. This must be understood if one is to make any sense out of what is happening in the Soros-funded coup in Missouri. The former Navy SEAL and head of a military charity came to his senses and switched parties, and after coming to the GOP he immediately ran for governor. Much like Donald Trump, Greitens had no political experience and was from outside the political power structure. Few thought he had a chance to win, but he did. A lot of people weren't happy about that.

Greitens was very pro-police, something guaranteed to anger the Black Lives Matter/Antifa radicals in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Greitens’ swift and firm resolve when police officer Jason Stockley was acquitted of murdering a black suspect prevented another Ferguson riot but ginned up the organization that had burned down Ferguson, and there was a great desire for payback.

Enter newly elected St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, who had been active in the Ferguson protests and was heavily subsidized by none other than George Soros. In fact, her campaign for circuit attorney received no less than $190,750.73 from Soros-funded groups. It should be pointed out that Soros funded the bloody riots in Ferguson to the tune of $33 million dollars.

This is in line with a plot the mad Hungarian devised to overthrow the political order. Soros has been buying up district attorneys by the gross. Soros has meddled in DA races in San Diego, San Antonio, Houston, Philadelphia, Portsmouth, Va. and a host of other places. Why is he doing this?

This is the criminalization of politics, something the left has been doing for some time. Consider the bogus criminal charges brought over the years against Republicans -- Tom Delay, Ted Stevens, Rick Perry, Scott Walker, Joe Arpaio, Ken Paxton, and a host of others. In most cases the prosecution wasn't even interested in winning so much as in damaging the accused politically. And this is especially the case with Greitens -- Gardner wanted his trial to begin on November 1, just before the midterm elections!

Greitens is accused of felony invasion of privacy for allegedly photographing a woman he was having an affair with and using it for blackmail. The only problem is, the woman never filed a complaint and has so much as admitted she may have dreamed the whole thing. The woman's ex-husband -- who divorced her over the affair with Greitens -- vowed to "get" Greitens, and in fact he was likely the one who went to the circuit attorney's office. Greitens is also accused of slapping the woman, which is what one might expect in an S&M session, something Greitens and the woman engaged in willingly.

Now all this is grossly immoral on Greitens’ part, and I am not excusing him, but the prosecution is clearly a political hit job.

Here's the thing: the prosecution does not have the photograph. Nor do they have any other physical evidence. They do have a tape made by the husband, quite possibly illegally, according to Missouri Rev. Stat. § 542.400:

"It is unlawful to record an "oral communication,” which is defined as "any communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying such expectation.”

So, the prosecution has no problem with the husband violating the law, but is hell-bent on punishing the governor all the same. And of course, the woman was not going to be truthful with her husband; she had been having an illicit affair, one that continued well after the alleged photograph was taken. And recently to cover the violation the husband's lawyer claimed the woman secretly made the tape with him. Ri-ight.

Missouri's Republican attorney general Josh Hawley sent another referral down to St. Louis over another accusation against Greitens, this time accusing him of contacting people on the donor list of his charity for contributions. This was dealt with by the House Ethics Committee, and Greitens paid a hundred-dollar fine, but Hawley says there is evidence Greitens wasn't entirely candid with them. Hawley -- a RINO who is breaking his pledge to not run for higher office and is seeking to run against Claire McCaskill for the U.S. Senate -- has recused himself and given the case over to the same people who are so horribly mishandling this trial.

And it is being mishandled. Gardner hired a private investigator rather than use the St. Louis police, and the investigator, William Tisaby, a former FBI agent and bigamist, has tampered with evidence on a number of occasions. Claimed there was a video camera glitch that deleted a deposition by the woman involved with Greitens, Tisaby then under pressure produced the tape and only a few minutes were gone. Tisaby also claimed he had taken no notes of the deposition and yet the tape clearly showed him writing furiously the entire time. The presiding judge in the case called Tisaby to testify over withholding evidence and he did not show up. The judge gave him a second chance and his lawyer showed, and the lawyer asked that the testimony be continued because he had been hired at 2 A.M. the night before and needed time to prepare. Eventually Tisaby did show up and he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights multiple times.

Also, Gardner herself met personally with the witness in a motel in Illinois where there were no witnesses and no records. This is highly unethical, to put it mildly.

Nonetheless the presiding judge refused to throw the charges out.

Gardner recently hired the attorney who represented Michael Brown's family, by the way.

Almost half of all cases brought before the circuit attorney's office had to be delayed because Gardner did not bother to share evidence with the courts and defense attorneys. Gardner has been conferring with Missouri Democrats while prosecuting Greitens. She refused to prosecute black perpetrators on numerous occasions and has mishandled cases that she has prosecuted.

She could only get away with this sort of thing in St. Louis, where the Democrats own the town. Jennifer Joyce, the woman Gardner replaced, was a member of the Obama Truth Squad, a group of prosecutors and other authorities who threatened opponents of Obama. Gardner is just taking this to the next level.

Meanwhile, the attorney for the husband of the "victim" had his legal fees paid by an anonymous donation. According to the Belleville News Democrat:

"Al Watkins, the St. Louis attorney who represents the ex-husband of Greitens’ alleged victim, confirmed the payments, which came in two $50,000 increments, while talking to reporters shortly after a St. Louis judge ruled that he could not also represent an investigator in the case."

Watkins was going to represent Tisaby.

The money, it turns out, came from Scott Faughn, the publisher of the Missouri Times, an influential liberal publications with ties to the Missouri legislature. Tea Party activist William Hennessey explains:

"Eric Greitens campaigned mostly on cleaning up the tax credit mess in Jefferson City. Everybody thought it was just a campaign promise. But it wasn’t. Greitens was serious. He cut over $150 million in tax credits his first year. That created enemies. Enemies who consider taxpayers’ dollars their own."

And apparently the money going to Watkins came from some shadowy business sources that suckle at the teat of the Missouri taxpayer. Hennessey points out that all five Republicans on the House Committee investigating Greitens are retiring at the end of the legislative session and most likely will be working as lobbyists. Greitens plan to cut tax credits will seriously hurt their future financial prospects.

And as soon as the story broke about the governor, RINO Republicans in the Missouri legislature (a body they own) called for Greitens to resign from office, and have well begun the process of impeachment. No effort to defend the governor was taken. While it makes sense -- Greitens offended many of them -- the GOP must learn they have to defend their own. By not defending Greitens, they are risking losing their large majority to the Democrats, who were withering away in Missouri until now.

In the end, this is a microcosm of the Mueller investigation and the plans to impeach Donald Trump. If they succeed with Greitens, they will be emboldened to take out Trump, and any other Republican they do not like. This must be stopped. It is one of the most egregious railroadings we have ever witnessed.

UPDATE: KMOX radio just announced no photos were found on the governor's cell phone.

https://www.americanthinker.co...ens_railroading.html

...And the felony invasion of privacy charge has been dismissed.

http://www.kmov.com/story/3818...minal-case-dismissed

Greitens invasion of privacy case dismissed; prosecutors plan to re-file

ST. LOUIS (AP / KMOV.com) -- The criminal invasion of privacy case against Missouri Governor Eric Greitens was suddenly dismissed Monday.

The announcement came after both sides went into the judge's chambers Monday evening.

Assistant St. Louis Circuit Attorney Ronald Sullivan made the surprise announcement in court after the third day of jury selection in Greitens' trial. Sullivan cited the fact that Greitens' defense attorneys planned to call the St. Louis circuit attorney, whose handling of the case has been under constant criticism by Greitens attorneys.

A spokesperson for Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said Greitens' defense team made a motion to include Gardner as a witness, a motion that Judge Burlison agreed to.

"The court’s order places the Circuit Attorney in the impossible position of being a witness, subject to cross-examination within the offer of proof by her own subordinates," the statement read. The prosecution filed a dismissal with the court, but the Circuit Attorney's Office said they plan to re-file charges, saying they will research the best "steps forward for this case in light of the court's ruling."

Greitens' attorneys have criticized Gardner's handling of the case, particularly her hiring of private investigator William Tisaby, who Greitens' lawyers have accused of perjury.

Greitens was accused of taking and transmitting a nonconsensual photo of an at least partially nude woman with whom he had an affair in 2015.

When the dismissal was announced, Greitens and his defense were seen smiling in court.

Read the full statement from the Circuit Attorney's Office

Since January, Governor Greitens and his defense team have taken a scorched-earth legal and media strategy and relentlessly attacked the intentions, character and integrity of every person involved in investigating the Governor’s behavior including Missouri House Committee members, the Attorney General, the Circuit Attorney and her team, his victim, her family and those who have called for his resignation.

On February 22, 2018, a Grand Jury indicted Governor Greitens on Felony Invasion of Privacy. The Circuit Attorney has done everything in her power to remain focused on the facts and the truth of this matter. The Circuit Attorney and her team are ready, willing and able to go to trial this week on behalf of the people of the state of Missouri and Mr. Greitens’ victim.

Last week, Governor Greitens made a motion to include the Circuit Attorney as a defense witness. A defendant who wishes to call a prosecutor as a witness must demonstrate a compelling and legitimate reason to do so. Governor Greitens has produced no compelling reason to include the Circuit Attorney as a witness for any purpose. The defense team knows that the tactic of endorsing the Circuit Attorney as a witness is part of their ongoing effort to distract people from the defendant’s actions that brought about both the felony Invasion of Privacy and Computer Tampering charges against him.

22nd Circuit Judge Rex Burlison made an unpreceded decision by granting a request by Governor Greitens’ defense team to endorse the Circuit Attorney as a witness for the defense. The court’s order places the Circuit Attorney in the impossible position of being a witness, subject to cross-examination within the offer of proof by her own subordinates.

While the court has other remedies, such as calling the private attorney of K.S. as a witness, it has chosen not to do so. When the court and the defense team put the state in the impossible position of choosing between her professional obligations and the pursuit of justice, the Circuit Attorney will always choose the pursuit of justice. The court’s order leaves the Circuit Attorney no adequate means of proceeding with this trial. Therefore, the court has left the Circuit Attorney with no other legal option than to dismiss and refile this matter.

The Circuit Attorney and her team will research the best step forward for this case in light of the court’s ruling. The Circuit Attorney will be make a decision to either pursue a special prosecutor or make an appointment of one of her assistants to proceed.

Yep. Nothin'.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/l...ff-b85e1289b710.html

A special master reviewed 16,833 images and 610 videos extracted from Greitens' cell phone and “found none that were associated with” the woman, a motion to dismiss filed Monday says.

A forensic examiner found no evidence that any picture taken on March 21, 2015 was deleted, the motion says. That's the day Greitens and the woman had a sexual encounter, and she claims he took a picture while she was bound and nude or semi-nude.

The motion says that the woman never saw a smart phone, a camera or the picture that was purportedly taken.Even if a picture was taken, the motion says “it could have been of the floor, of the ceiling, or of (the woman's) feet.”

Defense lawyer Jim Martin said after the dismissal that prosecutors searched every phone, email and cloud storage account and found no evidence of the photo.

Prosecutors have less than a month to refile the case under the statute of limitations. Defense lawyers vowed to challenge any attempt to do so, saying the dismissal was due to misconduct by Gardner and should therefore not qualify for more time to re-file.

The defense has accused investigator William Don Tisaby of putting “words in the mouth” of witnesses and removing information favorable to Greitens from reports. He said in a sworn statement that he didn’t take notes during his interviews, but was caught on video taking notes. Tisaby asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a second deposition, and Burlison had seemed unwilling to allow the defense to call him. Prosecutors have said Tisaby was used only to locate and interview a few witnesses, and they never planned to call him at trial.