ST. LOUIS _ A St. Louis judge said he would rule Thursday on defense motions to dismiss the criminal case against Gov. Eric Greitens.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison gave lawyers a noon Wednesday deadline for any filings related to the defense motion after Greitens' lawyers on Monday morning aired more complaints of withheld evidence.
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 committee investigating Greitens that he threatened to release the photo if she disclosed their encounter. She also detailed physical abuse by Greitens that has raised issues of consent in the relationship, and has led to growing bipartisan demands for his resignation.
In court Monday, defense lawyer Jim Martin said a new recording of the woman talking to her former husband and notes of an investigator working for prosecutors were not turned over until the weekend. That's despite repeated requests and a similar hearing Thursday, at which the defense made allegations of "criminal perjury" against that investigator, William Don Tisaby.
They've also complained that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner allowed Tisaby to lie under oath about notes and interviews.
Martin said Tisaby's new notes once again contradicted Tisaby's sworn statements about the source of the information and his original claim that he never took notes during interviews.
Martin also said some material favorable to the governor had been deleted from a draft of Tisaby's notes of a January interview with the woman. Martin said it was "highly unlikely" that Tisaby deleted it on his own, arguing that Gardner "must take responsibility" for her and Tisaby's actions. The defense claimed Tisaby's notes quoted the woman using words such as "traumatized" and "violated" that the videotape showed she never said.
Martin quoted the woman telling a friend that she thought Greitens "cared about her." Such a statement, Martin said, would contradict prosecutors' claims that she had been traumatized by the incident, as well as a statement to the Missouri House committee investigating Greitens that "I was a thing to him."
He said he wondered what else had not been turned over to the defense team, and reiterated the long-held defense position that there is no criminal case without the photo in question or evidence that it was transmitted. Defense lawyers have complained that prosecutors incorrectly instructed grand jurors on the law before they voted to indict Greitens.
Martin also said prosecutors were not cooperating with depositions of personnel from Apple and Google, and their experts who may testify in the case.
Defense lawyer Scott Rosenblum asked for banking records regarding money for legal expenses for the woman's ex-husband. Rosenblum is also seeking text messages from the woman's phone that he said would show a campaign of harassment by her ex.
After about 30 minutes of statements to the court by Martin and Rosenblum, First Assistant Circuit Attorney Robert Steele responded briefly after he, Gardner and Chief Trial Assistant Robert Dierker looked at each other as if unsure about who would respond.
Steele said he wasn't sure whether the "cared about her" statement helped or hurt Greitens and said three law firms working for the governor had the weekend but could only "come up with one sentence."
During the hearing, Martin and Rosenblum lobbed a rhetorical thesaurus at the behavior of prosecutors and Tisaby in an attempt to discredit the case, calling their conduct "impermissible," "unacceptable" and "prejudicial." Martin said Gardner was "oblivious to her obligations" to turn over evidence, while Rosenblum said the behavior of her office was "egregious, pernicious and pervasive."
Dierker, who spoke later, also criticized Tisaby and said his techniques have created a "terrible appearance."
But, he said, "we're in danger of missing the forest for the trees." He said Gardner is "striving to comply with the law, her oath and the ethical rules of governance."
He said only two people know what happened in Greitens' basement in March 2015, and the woman is now being "wrung out for every bit of impeachable evidence." Despite that, she has been consistent "on the merits of the charge," Dierker said.
Martin responded that Tisaby's behavior had tainted witnesses.
"They allowed people to fool the House. And they allowed people to fool the media," he said. Both, he said, "poisoned the well of any jury pool."
Burlison focused on defense motions about the text messages and the bank statements, and barely responded to the other complaints, giving the deadline for more court filings and his decision date.
