Governor's Ex-Mistress Must Turn Over Cell Phone: Judge

ST. LOUIS, MO — The woman who has accused Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens of invasion of privacy and sexual assault must turn over her cell phone to a court-appointed forensic expert for examination, a judge in St. Louis has ruled. The woman's attorney had argued that doing so would further violate her privacy and that other means of discovery were available.

The woman's attorney said the governor's former hair dresser and ex-mistress had already provided all relevant text messages from her phone, and that the ruling amounts to an unconstitutional search warrant. Her legal team has appealed the ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court.

The court is also looking into two mysterious $50,000 payments made to the woman's ex-husband. Greitens defense team has speculated that the money could have come from a political operative and that it may be relevant to his defense.

"The answer to that question needs to be tracked down," Judge Rex Burlison agreed Friday. Watkins will be deposed Monday, the judge ordered.

One the other side of the transparency issue, Greitens' attorney are trying to block the release of a deposition given by the governor's former mistress. Despite saying that it bolsters his case, they have been reluctant to give a copy of the testimony to a House Investigatory Committee currently weighing whether to impeach the governor.

The governor's defense team leaked excerpts of the woman's testimony earlier in April, but lawmakers said they want the whole truth rather than a cherry-picked version of it. The committee subpoenaed the deposition in mid-April but have not yet obtained it.

“If a defendant says something helps him, but refuses to turn it over, a fact-finder can assume the facts actually hurt the defendant,” Republican Rep. Jay Barnes said in a written statement. Barnes is the committee's chairman.

The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.

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