In a brief hearing on February 28, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner and lawyers for Missouri Governor Eric Greitens met for the first time in front of Circuit Judge Rex Burlison. The hearing in Greitens’ felony invasion of privacy cases had been moved up from March 16.
Burlison told Greitens’ lawyers they should file a motion for a change of venue quickly if they intend to do so. He said he would not consider the media coverage of Greitens’ indictment as a reason to move the trial to another jurisdiction unless given a very good reason to do so.
“The media folks have been fanned by both sides,” Burlinson said.
Greitens’ lawyers said the decision whether to file a motion for change of venue would depend on the continuing public climate.
Due to Greitens’ prominence as a politician and the extensive media coverage, Burlison said he expected there to be a long jury selection process. Barring further complications, he said, the trial will begin on May 14.
The charges against Greitens stem from allegations that he non-consensually photographed a woman he was having an affair with in 2015 while she was partially nude and blindfolded with her hands bound. Gardner issued the indictment in accordance with a recommendation from a grand jury.
Greitens’ lead attorney, Edward L. Dowd, filed a motion to dismiss the charges on the basis that the woman did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy within the private home of another person with whom she was having a consensual sexual affair. Burlison has not yet ruled on that motion.
Gardner has been attacked, including by the Missouri Republican Party, as being a Democrat politically motivated to take down a Republican governor. Gardner has received support from several activist organizations, including the Organization for Black Struggle in a February 26 statement.
“These attitudes smack of the kind of racism that at one time didn’t allow black police officers in St. Louis to arrest white citizens,” the OBS statement said. “This is 2018. Women have careers other than serving their man and black people can look white folks in the eye. Let the democratically elected and highly qualified prosecutor do her job.”
