A lawyer has cited a motion to dismiss invasion of privacy charges against Governor Eric Greitens as a basis to exonerate his client.
Governor Eric Greitens photographed after being taken into custody (Photo courtesy of the St. Louis City Sheriff’s office)
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports an attorney has asked Greitens to pardon Paul Henreid, a former exotic dancer of the same charges the governor faces.
According to the newspaper, Henreid was indicted in 1998 on four counts, including invasion of privacy, for secretly videotaping sexual acts with women at his home.
The request for a pardon is based on a motion submitted by Greitens attorney. The motion does not deny that Greitens took a photo of a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair in a compromising position, an act Greitens has sidestepped acknowledging.
In arguing for dismissal, Greitens attorney contends the law does not apply to a situation where the photographed party knows he or she is being viewed by his or her partner who takes the photograph.
The Post-Dispatch reports Albert Watkins, the attorney for Henreid, said it would be “mighty hypocritical” for Greitens to reject his request.
Watkins is also the lawyer for the ex-husband of the woman Greitens was involved with. The ex-husband secretly recorded the woman as she described her encounter with Greitens in March 2015, before he announced his intention to run for Governor.
The Post-Dispatch reports Henreid’s request for pardon, which was submitted in 2011 to former Governor Jay Nixon, has not been granted or rejected, leaving it unresolved.
The scandal surrounding Greitens has prompted calls for his resignation, as well as a legislative investigation of his actions. The indictment Thursday for invasion of privacy triggered demands from both sides of the aisle that the Republican governor step down.
At least one Democratic lawmaker, Senator Jamilah Nasheed of St. Louis, called for Greitens impeachment. Republican Senator Caleb Rowden of Columbia called on the governor to step down or face impeachment.
Documents were submitted for the Grand Jury indictment Thursday. A hearing in the case has been continued and rescheduled for March 16 at 9 a.m. before Judge Rex Burlison at the Carnahan Courthouse in downtown St. Louis.
Greitens has been under investigation by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, who he called a “reckless liberal prosecutor who uses her office to score political points”. Gardner is a former Democratic state lawmaker.
Greitens’ Motion for Dismissal argues the invasion of privacy law is meant to apply to third parties. It contends the 1995 statute was enacted to fix a legal loophole that became apparent a year earlier when the owner of a tanning salon in southwest Missouri’s Buffalo, who had secretly videotaped 83 women while they were nude, could only be charged with child abuse for 10 girls who were under the age of 18.
