Eric Greitens allowed to pursue ex-wife’s phone records, Missouri judge rules
Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens will be allowed to pursue the cell phone records of his ex-wife Sheena Greitens — a request he made as part of an effort to cast allegations of abusive behavior by Greitens as a political conspiracy against him.
In a court order made public Thursday, Boone County Associate Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider quashed Greitens’ requests for the cell phone records of his former campaign manager Austin Chambers and his ex-wife’s sister Catherine Linkul.
But Schneider denied Sheena Greitens’ request to quash the subpoena for her records.
Last week, Eric Greitens’ attorney Gary Stamper told Associate Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider that he was seeking 57 days worth of cell phone records from Sheena Greitens, Linkul and Chambers to “confirm a sad suspicion.”
He wanted to determine whether someone provided journalists with an affidavit signed by Sheena Greitens in March accusing Eric Greitens, now a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, of abuse before the document was accepted by a court clerk.
Stamper seeks to show through the phone records that abuse allegations against Greitens were part of a plan orchestrated by establishment Republicans to hurt Greitens’ Senate campaign. Greitens has not filed any sworn statements in the case, but has used social media and campaign emails to paint Sheena Greitens as a liar.
Sheena Greitens, through her attorney and in a public statement, has flatly denied Greitens’ accusations and stood by her March sworn statement that accused Greitens of physical abuse against her and her children.
Helen Wade, Sheena Greitens’ attorney, last week called Stamper’s request for records a politically motivated “fishing expedition.” She said the subpoenas were an intimidation tactic unrelated to the ongoing child custody dispute between the former couple. Sheena Greitens is seeking to move the case to Texas, where she lives.
“Mr. Greitens has very publicly touted the conspiracy theory that brings us here today,” Wade told Schneider last week. “Specifically, that Mitch McConnell and Karl Rove and various other political operatives conspired with my client to draft and file this affidavit.”
Sheena Greitens, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin, in March filed an affidavit alleging that Eric Greitens hit one of their two sons, knocking a tooth loose that was eventually removed.
She has also alleged that in April 2018, the former governor knocked her down in their Innsbrook home in eastern Missouri and took away her phone, wallet and keys to prevent her from seeking help.
Eric Greitens was elected as Missouri’s governor in 2016. In 2018, allegations surfaced that he had taken a compromising photo of his hairdresser during an extra-marital affair. An investigation by the Republican-controlled General Assembly also revealed allegations of sexually violent behavior, including that Greitens tied the woman to a pull-up bar in his basement and later forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Greitens denied those allegations but ultimately left office on June 1, 2018, as lawmakers appeared willing to impeach him.
Eric Greitens and Sheena Greitens separated in June 2018, according to court documents, and were divorced in 2020.
A hearing is set for May 27 where Schneider could decide on Sheena Greitens’ motion to move the child custody proceedings to Texas. A hearing on Eric Greitens’ motion to send the proceedings to mediation is scheduled for May 10.
