Judge rejects request to move up date of Gov. Greitens' trial

Gov. Eric Greitens will have to wait until at least May to find out if he’ll be found guilty of invasion of privacy.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison decided to keep Greitens’ trial date on May 14, rejecting a motion from defense attorneys seeking to move it up a month.

Greitens has been charged with invasion of privacy stemming from a 2015 affair. The felony charge alleges that Greitens knowingly photographed a woman with whom he was having an affair and transmitted the image “in a manner that allowed access to that image via a computer.”

Defense attorneys had asked for an earlier trial date as a Missouri House committee is conducting its own investigation.

The committee's final report, along with transcripts of its proceedings, is to be released by April 8, and the committee's chairman — Republican Rep. Jay Barnes — has said it is on pace to meet that deadline. Greitens' team wanted the trial to take place before that date.

Burlison said he would not let what’s happening in Jefferson City affect the case.

“The case is set for May 14 regardless of what is going on west of here,” Burlison said.

With those proceedings in the legislature, defense attorney Jack Garvey argued that an earlier trial would allow the state to move forward.

“We understand this an extraordinary request,” Garvey said. “This is an extraordinary case that has never been seen before. We feel a quick resolution will help the House and state to get moving on.”

Scott Simpson, the attorney for the victim in the case, argued against the April date, saying she is a full-time student, a single mom and employed. Simpson said she has moved her schedule around to accommodate the May trial.

Defense attorneys also argued that the circuit attorney's office did not have the alleged photo.

“That’s what they have in this case, virtually nothing,” Garvey said.

Susan Ryan, spokeswoman for Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, wouldn’t say if prosecutors had the photo, but she said they have shared everything appropriate with the defense.

“The defendant had exclusive control to a key piece of evidence,” said Robert Dierker, the prosecutor’s chief trial assistant, during Wednesday’s hearing. He said Greitens’ alleged control of the photo makes the prosecution’s case more difficult.

A hearing on whether Greitens will have a jury trial or bench trial is scheduled for Monday.

Greitens' team wants to avoid a jury trial, but prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday in opposition to that request.

"If the defense is concerned about the jury pool, defense counsel can refrain from giving media interviews and presenting personal attacks in the guise of motions," the motion stated.

Greitens' team has also sought to block Ronald Sullivan, a Harvard law professor hired by the circuit attorney’s office, from working on the case and to have the cased dismissed based on the allegations that prosecutors gave the grand jury misinformation.

A filing from Greitens' team contends that the oral instructions prosecutors gave to grand jurors were "flagrantly misleading" about the law being used to secure an indictment against the governor.

Gardner’s office has said that the accusations about the grand jury process are without merit.

The Star's Bryan Lowry contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 21, 2018 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Judge rejects request to move up date of Gov. Greitens' trial."