JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

You remember, of course, when the felony, invasion-of-privacy criminal case against former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens fell apart?

The reasons, if you need a reminder, were 1) a reported photo of his tied-up, naked lover never turned up, and 2) an overzealous prosecutor, Kim Gardner of St. Louis, messed up the investigation

Well, now it appears very possible that another photo will end up putting the proverbial nail in Greitens’ coffin.

In an excellent story in today’s Missouri Independent, Rudi Keller reported that Greitens’ former wife, Sheena Greitens, said in a court filing last week that she has photos and other evidence to back up her earlier assertion that Greitens physically abused her and at least one of their two sons “as his political career unraveled.”

The domestic-abuse allegation has ramped up quickly since Sheena Greitens raised it in a March 21 affidavit in a child-custody case that she wants moved from Missouri to Texas, where she now lives and works.

In last month’s affidavit, Mrs. Greitens said that in November 2019 one of their sons came home from a visit his father with a swollen face, bleeding gums and loose tooth, and said his father had hit him.

Never one to hold his fire and be tactical, Greitens responded with a statement alleging his ex-wife had a history of “emotionally abusive behavior” and asserting he was a “great Dad.”

Naturally, that didn’t sit well with Mrs. Greitens, who last week fired back with a new filing in which she said, “I will provide…photographic evidence of my child’s 2019 injuries, to the court at an appropriate time.”

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Now, it makes perfect sense that Mrs. Greitens would have taken photos of her son if he returned home injured after a visit with his father. The couple was separated at the time, and the former governor seemingly would not have had the opportunity to destroy those photos, as he may have done with the incriminating nude-former-lover photo, or photos.

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Greitens is one of the most despicable people to ever hold public office. He’s an established liar and self-serving politician, and now, it turns out, he might have been a child beater.

The initial abuse claim blew up the hotly contested, U.S. Senate Republican primary. Until then, Greitens was leading in the polls, but now his leading rivals, U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler and Attorney General Eric Schmitt, appear to have caught up to him.

The next development in the child-custody case should be very interesting. But if you hear of Sheena Greitens bringing forward a photo of a swollen-faced, bleeding-gum youth, just don’t expect to see it on the home page of your favorite news site. It won’t happen. It will be tightly held in the court file. Anyone who released it would be risking contempt-of-court charges and jail time.

But it would finish Greitens’ political career once and for all. In addition, Sheena Greitens and her sons might finally be able to find some peace of mind in the Lone Star State…Yes, it’s a shitty state, but the three of them would be a lot better off — a lot safer — than they are here, where a seething, maniacal former governor continues to run amok.