St. Louis Police Spokeswoman Schron Jackson says the department plans to investigate accusations made by the attorneys of Governor Eric Greitens. Lawyers Ed Dowd and Scott Rosenblum met with law enforcement officials today at police headquarters to file a police report alleging that the investigator for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner committed perjury.
Former U.S. Attorney Ed Dowd speaks to reporters in downtown St. Louis on March 26, 2018 (photo from Missourinet St. Louis contributor Jill Enders)
Gardner dismissed the governor’s felony invasion of privacy case yesterday. She says she plans to re-file a charge and request a special prosecutor in the case. The move is in response to Judge Rex Burlison granting the defense’s request to call Gardner to the witness stand and question her about alleged misconduct.
“That case collapsed yesterday and was dismissed. It was dismissed because there was no evidence of any crime. But the misconduct in this case should be addressed,” Dowd said in a press release. “That includes the lead investigator lying about his methods and the evidence he collected. In fact, that lead investigator, William Tisaby, refused to testify in a deposition about his perjury and misbehavior in the case, and he pleaded the fifth in response to over 50 questions.”
Prosecutors initially said a recorder had malfunctioned during Tisaby’s questioning of the governor’s alleged mistress. A copy of the tape was released the same night a Missouri House committee unveiled initial findings of its investigation about the governor.
“Our defense team has over 100 years of experience combined, and we have never seen such outrageous misconduct. In addition to perjury, that includes $100,000 in secret cash payments for a witness or witnesses, payments that were concealed from our defense team by the Circuit Attorney’s Office. And if that weren’t enough, the Circuit Attorney and William Tisaby also met a number of times in secret with a major witness in the case. By law, both the Circuit Attorney and William Tisaby were required to testify about what was said and done in those secret meetings. Both refused to do so.”
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner (D)
Large amounts of anonymous cash have allegedly emerged to help to pay the legal bills for the woman’s ex-husband. Al Watkins, the attorney for the man, said two $50,000 payments arrived at his office in January. He identified Missouri Times newspaper publisher Scott Faughn as the man who delivered one of the $50,000 payments. Watkins, who initially said he did not know where the money came from, said a courier dropped off the other.
Faughn responded through Twitter and Periscope by saying the money was because he retained Watkins as an attorney for a book he is writing about Greitens.
Defense attorney Jim Martin, also a former U.S. attorney, said at a court hearing that Watkins testified in a deposition that Faughn made two additional $10,000 payments.
Gardner is firing back by saying the “continued theatrics from Governor Greitens and his defense team today should surprise no one.”
“I knew when I began investigating the Governor that his high-priced defense team would use whatever means possible to attack my team and me in court and through the media. How did I know? Twice Governor Greitens’ team of attorneys came to my office and threatened my staff and me with the continued barrage of insults and accusations if we continued to pursue charges against the Governor,” Gardner said in a press release.
“As Circuit Attorney, I am responsible for following the evidence to seek the truth, wherever it may lead. Sometimes the evidence leads us to hold public officials and powerful people accountable under the law, and that makes them uncomfortable. Oftentimes, powerful people use whatever financial means available to stop prosecutors from seeking the truth. This is not the first time (nor will it be the last) in American history when an elected official was under investigation and they attacked the investigation itself to redirect the focus from their client to something else.”
Gardner goes on to say what is happening in Missouri mirrors what is happening on a national level.
“Thankfully, the elected officials in Missouri have the courage to stand up for truth and for what is right, regardless of how messy things can get. The actions by the defense team today do not concern me. There is not one shred of evidence that any action by Mr. Tisaby was illegal or materially impacted any evidence in this crime. There is also no evidence that Mr. Tisaby was anything other than mistaken or confused during his deposition when he answered the questions improperly. Just as Governor Greitens did not want anyone to conclude that he was guilty if he refused to take the stand during the trial, Mr. Tisaby’s reluctance to answer questions during his second deposition was merely due to the fact he had not been given the opportunity to review his previous deposition, which all witnesses are legally allowed to do.”
Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet
