IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COLE COUNTY MISSOURI

NINETEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

BEN SANSONE, on behalf of )

THE SUNSHINE PROJECT )
)
Plaintiff, )
v. ) 17AC-CC00635
)
ERIC GREITENS, ) Div. 1
Governor of Missouri, et al., )
)
Defendants. )

ORDER
The Court takes up the pending issue of the request of Plaintiff for an order to produce for

forensic imaging, certain cell phones used by the staff of the Governor’s office. The oral request

was made during a scheduled status conference, presumably in consideration of the unprecedented

announcements made on Tuesday evening.

Such requests are not unprecedented and similar arguments were made against such

requests. See State ex rel. K.S. v Burlison¸ SC97114. While the constitutional concerns raised did

not result in the issuance of a writ, the Court finds they merit further consideration not possible

give the time limitations of the end of the current Governor’s term. The Court has also considered

the practical realities of satisfying Plaintiff’s requests, not the least of which are 1) who is to do it

and 2) who is to pay for it, questions which remain unanswered to the satisfaction of the Court.

Finally, the Court, while acknowledging that the Plaintiff’s request might be a better way to look

for the information, there are other sources of the evidence.

Having considered the above, the Court has reconsidered its initial impressions and issues

the following orders:

1
1. The names of all people who worked for the Office of Governor, at any time during the term

of Governor Eric Greitens, including the governor himself, who at any time downloaded and/or

used Confide.

2. Corresponding to the above names, Defendants are ordered to identify the a) number of phones

that downloaded and/or used Confide associated with each person identified, b) the make and

model of each phone and, c) the mobile number for each corresponding phone, and d) all

Confide screen names and/or monikers used by each person.

3. For each phone identified, the identity of the current possessor of the phone.

4. The above information is to be affirmed by the Defendants and emailed to Plaintiff by Friday,

June 1st at 1:00 p.m..

5. The information in Paragraphs 1-3 will enable Plaintiff to request documents and information

from Confide, if any, related to those individuals and numbers. Requesting the information

from Confide would enable discovery to proceed against Confide without implicating the

serious constitutional concerns that would arise from an Order confiscating private personal

devices.

6. To address the Court’s concerns about evidence preservation, Defendants are required to

continue to implement the litigation holds currently in place in this litigation. Further, to

preserve evidence, if any, in the possession of outgoing staff members, Defendants are to

issue an additional notification to all current Governor’s Office staff members to preserve

information on any personal phone.

7. Defendants are to secure and preserve any cell phones which are owned by the State of

Missouri as well as the data contained therein.

SO ORDERED this 31st day of May, 2018.

2 Jon E. Beetem
3