Judge issues gag order in Gov. Greitens’ invasion of privacy case

A St. Louis judge has issued a gag order temporarily barring all parties involved in the felony prosecution of Gov. Eric Greitens from discussing the case publicly.

The governor's attorneys asked for the gag order to be extended to include Missouri lawmakers, but St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison said he lacked the authority to do so.

A grand jury in February indicted Greitens on one count of invasion of privacy stemming from allegations that he took a nude photo of a woman with whom he was having an affair and threatened to release it if she ever spoke publicly about the relationship. His trial is scheduled to begin May 14.

The judge’s order says that "all counsel, the parties, and endorsed witnesses are hereby prohibited from making any public statements outside the courtroom regarding the identity of witnesses and their expected testimony, references to specific evidence to be offered at trial, and any personal belief in the defendant’s guilt or innocence."

Press conferences are also forbidden until after the jury is sworn in.

The motion was requested by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's office, which accused Greitens’ defense attorney of “attempting to litigate this case in the press, conducting personal attacks on the victim, witnesses, investigators, and the Circuit Attorney."

“Defense counsel have repeatedly given press interviews and made other public statements that are heedless of the victim’s rights and present a danger of tainting the jury pool,” the motion states. “Regrettably, it appears that the defense tactics are tailored more to political grandstanding than orderly progress toward a fair and public trial. Consequently, it is urgently necessary that the Court act to preserve all parties’ rights to a fair trial.”

Edward Dowd Jr., one of the governor's attorneys, reiterated his opposition to lawmakers releasing a report this week ahead of the May trial and said in a statement that the judge agreed with him that "it would be reckless of the State House to put out information now, as evidence should not be publicly released without rigorous cross examination and review."

The judge did not respond to a request for comment. House leadership also did not respond.

The report is to be posted at 5 p.m. Wednesday on the Missouri House website.

Greitens' team provided The Star with a partial transcript of the hearing.

Burlison said that he was not making the gag order final at this time to give both sides time to look at "what powers this Court has to prevent the reckless dissemination of information that may taint the jury pool," according to the transcript.

The judge went onto say that legislators have "their powers," but that he hoped lawmakers would consider the potential impact of disseminating information that had not been vetted through the judicial process.

"And I have to hope that consideration is being given to any defendant, defendant's rights to have a fair trial in front of an impartial jury. I am assuming that they are weighing that west of here. But, nonetheless, they have their jobs and their authority, and I'm not going to pick up the phone," the judge said, according to the transcript.

"I would only hope that all information that's disseminated is only disseminated through that process of decades of judicial rulings and precedent that have been on the books," he said.

Susan Ryan, the spokeswoman for Gardner's office, said in a statement that both the court and the circuit attorney are "charged with protecting the defendant’s right to a fair trial by jury. This includes reducing the pre-trial publicity by involved parties, which was the purpose of the state’s motion today."

She also noted the court "does not have jurisdiction over the Missouri House of Representatives and their actions. Our constitution clearly identifies the separation of powers that seems to elude the defense."

The gag order also requires that motions filed with the court that include references to depositions be kept confidential until the judge reviews them and rules whether they become public court filings.

Greitens’ legal team filed a motion Sunday that quoted a small portion of the woman’s deposition testimony in which she said she wasn’t sure whether she saw Greitens holding a phone during the 2015 incident at the center of the criminal case.

“I don’t know if it’s because I’m remembering it through a dream or I — I’m not sure, but yet, I feel like I saw it after that happened, but I haven’t spoken about it because of that,’” the woman was quoted as saying during her deposition.

Greitens’ campaign latched onto the excerpts, promoting on social media that the woman had only dreamed that the governor had taken a photo of her without her consent.

The woman’s attorney says the governor’s attorneys mischaracterized her deposition testimony. He called on them to release the full transcript.

"Gov. Greitens has admitted to my client, on multiple occasions, that he took her photograph, without her consent, and threatened to release it if she ever told anyone about their relationship,” Scott Simpson, the woman’s St. Charles-based attorney, said in a statement late Monday.

“Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, Gov. Greitens has decided to let his team attack my client by mischaracterizing her deposition testimony," Simpson said.

The case centers on whether Greitens took a photograph of the woman without her consent during an extramarital affair. Prosecutors have previously admitted that they do not possess the photograph.

Greitens’ campaign sent an email to supporters that included links to coverage about the motion by Fox News and KSHB.

“This new breaking news comes after the team for the prosecutor's office has already admitted multiple times that they do not have a photograph. It’s time to end this political witch hunt,” the email from Greitens' campaign said.

Greitens' campaign also paid for promoted tweets, which reach a larger audience on Twitter, to encourage people to read the Fox story.

Simpson said his team would support the release of the complete transcript of his client's testimony "to set the record straight" as long as her name and other identifying information remains redacted.

“The governor can continue to try this case in the media, but at his trial, the facts will speak for themselves,” he said.

The governor's trial for felony invasion of privacy will take place May 14. A legislative committee is set to release a report this week in Jefferson City based on its own investigation.

The allegations were first made public by the woman's ex-husband in a January interview with KMOV. The ex-husband's attorney, Al Watkins, announced Tuesday that his client was asking for donations to help cover his attorneys' fees.

Watkins said that cash, checks, money orders, credit and debit cards would all be accepted.

"Return bottles will be accepted if clean and in a carrying receptacle," Watkins said in the statement. "Also in keeping with the Governor’s established protocol, those who give will not be disclosed."

Watkins referred to Greitens as the "not yet former Governor" and ended his statement by saying that any excess funds raised "will be used to buy beer, screw top bottles of wine, and/or hard liquor. If there is a whole lot of extra change, it may be spent on party chips, dips, and soda pop for the kids!"

This story was originally published April 10, 2018 at 2:46 PM with the headline "Judge issues gag order in Gov. Greitens’ invasion of privacy case."