JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — St. Louis’ top prosecutor is asking a judge to disqualify the law firm representing Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens in his criminal case.
In a court filing Friday, Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner says the Dowd Bennett law firm simultaneously worked both for and against the state.
Greitens was indicted by a St. Louis grand jury last month on felony invasion of privacy. He is accused of taking a compromising photo of a woman with whom he was having an affair in 2015, without her permission.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed in December claimed Greitens’ use of the message-destroying phone app Confide violated the state’s open records laws.
Dowd Bennett represented Greitens in both cases until withdrawing from the Confide case earlier this month, after Attorney General Josh Hawley issued a report finding use of the app did not violate the law.
Phone and email messages seeking comment from the Dowd Bennett firm were not immediately returned.
The St. Louis circuit attorney’s office is investigating the charity founded by Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens for potential criminal issues.
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said at a news conference Friday that his office has issued 15 subpoenas in its investigation of The Mission Continues. He announced the inquiry earlier this month after The Associated Press reported that Greitens used a Mission Continues email to send meeting invitations to political consultants as he was preparing to run for office in 2015.
Susan Ryan, a spokesman for Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, says her office is investigating The Mission Continues separately from the attorney general’s probe, but she declined to discuss details of the investigation.
Greitens already faces a felony invasion of privacy indictment in St. Louis related to a photo taken of a woman with whom he had an affair prior to being elected.
Phone and email messages seeking comment from the Dowd Bennett firm were not immediately returned.
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