The team of the prosecutor who brought down former Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens is under investigation for possible perjury involving the same case.
Kim Gardner, the St. Louis circuit attorney who led the charge in the Greitens case, was accused of suborning perjury by the former governor’s defense team. A state grand jury is now considering evidence pursuant to a police investigation that began in May of 2018, according to a Tuesday morning report from local St. Louis radio station KMOX.
The local ABC affiliate reported at the time:
Police say the decision to investigate was made after meeting with two of Greitens’ attorneys, who announced earlier Tuesday they would ask for an investigation. The defense attorneys allege that William Tisaby, an investigator hired by Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, lied to the court and withheld evidence.
Prosecutors dropped a felony invasion-of-privacy charge against Greitens on Monday after a court ruled that Gardner had to answer questions under oath from Greitens’ attorneys.
A formal complaint has been filed with the Missouri Bar Association against St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner for her handling of the Greitens case. https://t.co/o1B080bcg2
— KMOX St. Louis News (@kmoxnews) August 27, 2018
Local conservative talk show host Marc Cox, who has been covering the case since the very beginning, told The Daily Caller that he felt like the initial prosecution of former Gov. Greitens was political — and that Gardner has continued in that vein since.
I’ve argued all along that this was a political prosecution, with Democrat politician-turned-prosecutor Kim Gardner more than happy to embarrass the sitting Republican Governor. It started with a rush to file any charge simply to beat the statute of limitations, and was an impossible case to prove from the beginning. There was never a photo produced, or even evidence a photo ever existed. The St. Louis Police Chief seemed mystified that Kim Gardner ever brought charges, and questioned from the beginning the decision to hire Tisaby from out of state to investigate.
Since the charges were dropped, Gardner has continued to make questionable decisions, including recently declining to prosecute an opioid dealer busted by St. Louis Police with 1,000 pills, over a personal grudge with police. It’s safe to say that law enforcement long ago lost faith in her willingness to enforce the law. Let’s hope a grand jury can hold her office accountable if lies were told during the Greitens case.
Gardner made news when she announced in August of 2018 that her office would not hear evidence or bring any charges in cases presented by certain city police officers — and she provided an “exclusion list” of 28 officers to the St. Louis Police Department. (RELATED: St. Louis Prosecutor Refuses To Take Cases From 28 Police Officers — She Made A List)
Chris Hinckley, Gardner’s Chief Warrant Officer, explained the move via email, saying, “warrant applications involving officers (sic) as essential witnesses will be refused if their participation is essential to the successful prosecution of the case. Cases previously issued where the above officers are essential witnesses will be reviewed for viability.”
Gardner’s office has also been hit with a lawsuit from former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley — for defamation and malicious prosecution — against whom she failed to secure a conviction in 2017, sparking city-wide protests.