St. Louis, MO (KTRS) The felony invasion of privacy case against Missouri Governor Eric Greitens will be heard before a jury.
That was the ruling by St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison during a hearing on Monday.The defense team for the Republican Governor argued that there has been too much pre-trial publicity and that could taint a jury.
However, the judge sided with the prosecution and denied the defense’s request for a bench trial. Despite the ruling, defense attorney Ed Dowd had this to say, “We’re very happy with having a jury and just look forward to a speedy and a fair trial, which I know we’ll get here.”
The defense also argued to have the indictment dismissed. Greitens’ attorneys claim the prosecution misled the Grand Jury on Missouri’s invasion of privacy law involving what was done with the photo Greitens allegedly took of his former mistress. The judge has not yet ruled on this motion.
Defense lawyer Jim Martin said also stated in his argument that there’s no evidence that the photo exists or that it was transmitted. He made reference that Greitens’ former mistress told the Grand Jury that she never saw a camera during the sexual encounter.
The prosecution responded to the defense’s argument that the transmission of the alleged photo can be “circumstantially inferred from the use of the iPhone” because “devices know how to transmit to the cloud.”
Late Monday afternoon, Burlison ruled denied the request to dismiss the indictment. The trial is scheduled for May 14.
