ST. LOUIS _ Lawyers for Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens claimed in a court filing Wednesday that a former FBI agent involved in the investigation of the governor's 2015 affair is himself being investigated for perjury.
The two-page filing offers no support for the assertion. It says simply that "As the Court knows, there is now a criminal investigation of Mr. (William Don) Tisaby and possibly Ms. Gardner related to the perjury by Tisaby, which no one is denying, and the participation in the lies and concealment by Ms. Gardner," referring to St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner.
Defense lawyers are seeking a chance to depose Tisaby again, while warning that he probably would refuse to answer questions that could put him in criminal jeopardy. They say that Tisaby's refusal would hamper Greitens' ability to defend himself.
In a statement, Gardner's office said it had "no knowledge of any investigation being conducted by anyone on Mr. Tisaby or the Circuit Attorney." The statement said a jury would "be in the best position to evaluate the evidence."
"The Circuit Attorney and her staff refuses to succumb to the bullying efforts by Gov. Greitens, his defense team and his public relations team," the statement says.
A St. Louis police spokeswoman wrote in an email: "No one has contacted the Department about an investigation involving Mr. Tisaby."
The court motion is a supplement to an earlier filing Wednesday asking St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison to dismiss a criminal charge of invasion of privacy against Greitens. His lawyers claim dismissal is the appropriate and necessary sanction for prosecutors' failure to turn over evidence the defense says is favorable to Greitens and Tisaby's alleged lies under oath.
"This case shouts out for dismissal," lawyers wrote in a court filing.
But other than the perjury investigation claims, it is largely a recap of arguments made in prior filings and in court and in media interviews since Greitens' indictment in February. St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison last month rejected a prior motion to dismiss.
In their response, also filed Wednesday, prosecutors denied that Tisaby committed perjury. On Monday, Robert Dierker, Gardner's chief trial assistant, did compare Tisaby to "Inspector Clouseau," the inept fictional detective.
In their filing, they admit "mis-steps" and "lapses" but said there was no misconduct. They called the defense arguments "hyperbole," and an "inappropriate" part of a public relations strategy to distract the judge and the public. They said dismissal was not appropriate "except in the most extraordinary circumstances, where prejudice can be shown, which is not the case here."
They also said that other sanctions, ranging from a delay in the trial, exclusion of evidence or sanctions against prosecutors were not warranted.
They said that the woman who had an affair with Greitens had been "wholly consistent in the core of her testimony."
Prosecutors also submitted complete transcripts of the woman's grand jury testimony and a Jan. 29 interview with investigators, as well as the grand jury transcript of her friend for Burlison's review.
Greitens is facing a felony charge of invasion of privacy for allegedly taking a nude picture of a woman in March 2015 without her consent. The woman told a Missouri House investigative committee that Greitens threatened to release the photo if she publicly disclosed their encounter. That report, and a news conference Tuesday at which Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said Greitens may be guilty of a felony for using a charity donor list without permission in his gubernatorial campaign, has led to demands for his resignation or impeachment.
Greitens refused to do so in in a Tweet on Tuesday.
Gardner's office said Wednesday that it was still investigating Hawley's allegations.
Defense lawyers called the case a "runaway train" in Wednesday's filing.
Greitens' lawyers say prosecutors failed to turn over notes made by Tisaby, and a video recording of a friend of the woman.
They claim Gardner knew or should have known that Tisaby lied when questioned about his notes and the statements made by witnesses.
They say the information in the notes and videos belies the "narrative" that the affair caused the divorce and the idea that the woman's ex-husband was not motivated by dislike of Greitens when he released tapes of the woman's confession to the affair.
When Greitens rubbed the woman's leg in her hair salon, it was "flirtation," "not some unwelcome advance," his lawyers said.
They also reiterated that the woman's statement to a friend that she thought Greitens "cared about" her contradicted the woman's statements to the House committee that she was a "thing" to him.
"A person would never act like another person 'cared about' them if that person had victimized them in some way," lawyers wrote.
Prosecutors responded by saying that the recently released information is "at best, marginally impeaching" to witnesses. They said they have now released all information that they have, and added that Gardner "has herself rectified the errors and misstatements of her investigator, enduring painful and unwarranted accusations by the defense in the process."
And prosecutors lobbed their own accusations of misconduct against Greitens' lawyers, saying those with the Dowd Bennett firm have a conflict of interest because they represented the governor in an investigation into his use of a confidential messaging app, Confide.
