Jury selection starts in governor’s trial
ST. LOUIS — Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens appeared in court Thursday as jury selection got underway in a criminal trial accusing him of taking a compromising photo of a woman with whom he has acknowledged having an affair.
The Republican governor faces the potential of prison time if convicted of the felony invasion-of-privacy charge but has consistently denied any criminal wrongdoing.
Jury selection was taking longer than anticipated. St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison, prosecutors and Greitens’ attorneys are sorting through as many as 160 potential jurors during their multiday selection process.
Greitens, 44, is accused of taking and transmitting an unauthorized photograph of a blindfolded and partially naked woman while she was bound to exercise rings in the basement of his St. Louis home in 2015, before he was elected.
Prosecutors acknowledged in court earlier this week that they have not found such a photo. Greitens has repeatedly declined to say if he took a picture and has referred to the affair as an “entirely consensual relationship.”
In addition to the invasion-of-privacy case, Greitens faces a separate criminal charge in St. Louis of improperly disclosing the donor list of The Mission Continues charity to his political fundraiser in 2015 without its permission.