St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced Wednesday that she is dismissing the felony computer tampering charge brought against Gov. Eric Greitens (R-MO) in April.
Gardner made her statement the day after Greitens announced his resignation. According to a Wednesday Kansas City Star report, Greitens offered to resign as part of the deal to get the charge dismissed.
Gardner said the most “fair and just way to resolve the situation” is to dismiss the case, since Greitens would likely not face any jail time due to his status as first-time offender and the level of the crime.
The charge is a result of Greitens unlawfully using the donor list for a veterans charity called The Mission Continues to fundraise for his 2016 gubernatorial campaign.
Greitens could still be in hot water with another felony charge from February for invasion of privacy, when he allegedly took a picture of a nude woman without her consent and threatened to use it against her. The charge was dropped in early May, but Special Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker is currently deciding whether or not to refile.
Gardner declined to comment on that second charge, saying that it’s in the hands of the special prosecutor.
Gardner ended her statement with an uplifting call for unity: “It’s time for us to come together, to heal the wounds of the city and state, to build a place where people feel they are heard…”
Watch Gardner’s address here.
Making her statement the day after Greitens announced his resignation, Gardner said the most “fair and just way to resolve the situation” is to dismiss the case, since Greitens would likely not face any jail time due to his status as first-time offender and the level of the crime.
Who gives a shit if he gets jail time? By dismissing the case he gets a free pass and no chance of him becoming a convicted felon.
How is that considered justice?
Does this mean that all the information about Greitens’ “dark money” sources and connections are going down the rabbit hole, never to be seen again? Josh sees the threat of revelations about this money trail as the main reason Greitens resigned. Is the fix in, and, if so, how big is the fix?
The temptation on the right, and perhaps far more of the regional and national establishment, is going to be to get this guy off the stage asap, but somebody, some intrepid journalist or other, needs to get the papers on this guy public. Bring the dark money into the light.
Certainly seems like there was a back room deal. Resignation for dropped charges. This seems very fishy unless I’ve missed something.
Great, so now we don’t get to follow the money, just as Josh predicted. That’s a damn shame. I’d really like to know what dark money is doing in state government. But I guess Gardener can rest easy in the belief that she did this for the people of Missouri (as opposed to trying to save her own reputation, such as it is).
Harrumph.