Former MO Gov. Eric Greitens scheduled to testify on abuse allegations in custody case

Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is scheduled to testify Wednesday in his ongoing child custody dispute with his ex-wife Sheena Greitens.

At a court hearing in Columbia on Friday, Boone County Associate Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider ruled that she will oversee a deposition hearing in the case at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The ruling means that attorneys for both parties will be able to question Eric and Sheena Greitens under oath. However, the hearing will be behind closed doors instead of a public trial.

Helen Wade, the lawyer for Sheena Greitens, likely will ask the former governor about allegations that he abused his ex-wife and their young children in 2018. It could expose damaging information about the U.S. Senate candidate just weeks before the Republican primary on Aug. 2.

The deposition scheduled for Wednesday will be the first time Eric Greitens, who stepped down as governor in 2018 following claims that he had blackmailed a woman to keep her quiet about an extramarital affair, answers questions under oath since his ex-wife’s abuse allegations were made public in March.

“Quite frankly, (Sheena Greitens) can’t keep coming up here to do this,” Wade told Schneider Friday. Sheena Greitens now lives in Texas. “I understand that Mr. Greitens does not want to give a deposition prior to the primary. I understand that. But we want this case to be over with.”

Sheena Greitens was in the courtroom Friday. Eric Greitens attended the hearing by video.

Gary Stamper, the attorney for Eric Greitens, and Wade said Friday that Liz Magee, who serves as the guardian to oversee the interests of the former couple’s two children during the case, expressed concern that a public hearing would hurt the children. A closed-door deposition is in the best interests of the Greitens’ young children, Wade told Schneider Friday.

At the hearing, Stamper said he didn’t think it was necessary to hold a deposition in the case. However, he ultimately agreed to it and said he would talk to Eric Greitens.

Asked after the hearing whether he would question Sheena Greitens under oath, Stamper said it was a “game time decision.” He said he did not plan to contest Wednesday’s deposition.

Sheena Greitens, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin, is seeking to move the case to Texas. Stamper told The Star Friday that the attorneys will likely file a transcript of the deposition with the court. Schneider is expected to rule on whether to move the case to Texas based on arguments laid out in the deposition.

The child custody case has received intense scrutiny since March after the former Missouri first lady filed an affidavit accusing her ex-husband of physical and emotional abuse against her and their children.

Eric Greitens, through Stamper, has painted the abuse allegations as a broader political conspiracy orchestrated by establishment Republicans.

Copies of Sheena Greitens’ communications shared with The Star rebut the former governor’s claims and show that she made the same allegations to a therapist and a lawyer in 2018.

In the communications and her sworn statement, Sheena Greitens references several times where her ex-husband was physically and emotionally abusive to her and their children. They include a time where the former governor allegedly hit one of his sons in the face while he was sitting in his booster seat. In another incident, Sheena Greitens said her son told her that the former governor grabbed him by the hair. She also wrote that her ex-husband pushed and knocked her over and took away her phone.

The former governor has not filed any sworn statements in the case, but has used social media and campaign emails to cast his ex-wife as a liar.

Greitens’ campaign tactics made their way into the child custody dispute last month in the aftermath of a campaign video that showed Eric Greitens hunting his perceived political enemies. Wade said Sheena Greitens received threats after the video’s release.