A Florida judge has temporarily blocked the release of surveillance video of Robert Kraft and others allegedly engaged in illegal acts at a Jupiter massage parlor. The Palm Beach County State Attorney had earlier today announced that under Florida’s public records law it planned to release pixelated versions those surveilled at the spa including New England Patriots owner Kraft. Now, everything is on hold until an April 29 court hearing. The notice by the prosecutors office seems like an attempt to intimidate or strong-arm Kraft into dropping his not-guilty plea and request for a jury trial and instead plead out. It’s interesting that liberal mainstream news media/sports media — which is intent on getting its hands on the footage — has abandoned its traditional professed concern for civil liberties when it comes to Mr. Kraft, 77. Despite all the initial spiking of the football, so to speak, Florida authorities have abandoned claims that human trafficking was in play at the spa.
Kraft’s lawyers have already filed motions to seal the file containing the video from the public. WEEI.com and others have described the media’s campaign to gain access to the tapes as revenge porn. Barstool Sports has joked that this is a tug rule video, which is a callback to the controversial tuck rule play from the 2002 AFC championship game between the Patriots and the-then Oakland Raiders.
Will the Kraft Case Have a Happy Ending?
“Kraft was charged with two misdemeanor counts of solicitation after visiting Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter two times in January, according to police,” NBC affiliate WPTV recalled. Kraft is allegedly on camera receiving extra massage services, a.k.a. “a handy,” or perhaps something more invasive.
At this point, it does not appear that cops even had probable cause to make a traffic stop on the vehicle in which Kraft was a passenger, let alone obtaining a warrant to install secret cameras inside the massage parlor. Without probable cause, evidence can and should be tossed out and thus ruled inadmissable for purposes of a court trial.
Parenthetically, some legitimate customers at the spa intend on suing authorities for invasion of privacy.
“Kraft’s attorneys believe the video was obtained through an illegal ‘sneak-and-peek’ search warrant. They also say, among other things, releasing it could hurt Kraft’s right to a fair trial,” WPTV added.
Kraft’s legal team today claimed that any attempt to release the tape would constitute prosecutorial misconduct. ” Kraft’s lawyers filed an emergency motion to stop the public release of the video, which they described as pornographic,” UPI added.
A court employee or another insider with unauthorized access possibly leaking the video for cash is another matter entirely.
Although prostitution is obviously illegal in Florida, morality aside, it appears that at worst, the highly publicized scenario revolves around consenting adults engaging in commerce. The case seems to epitomize prosecutorial overreach, as it were.
Moreover, shouldn’t local cops in the Jupiter area be investigating or preventing serious felonies rather than spending/wasting time and public money pursuing low-level charges against Mr. Kraft and other spa customers?
Related story: Robert Kraft Is Fighting the Law – Will the Law Win?
A Travesty of Justice?
Reacting on his Periscope channel to the initial report of the impending release of the tape, FS1/Fox Sports radio personality Clay Travis, a lawyer, persuasively argued why authorities have behaved disgracefully in relation to Kraft:
“Bob Kraft is going to beat their charges. He has not done anything wrong. First, they tried to say he had sex trafficked. Then they tried to say all sorts of inappropriate things about him. Now they have worked their way back around to desperation, and now they’re just trying to publicly humiliate this man. I think that the evidence is going to get squashed in this case. I think it is what is known as the ‘fruit of the poisonous tree.’ I believe the warrant that was granted in this case was predicted on the idea that there was sex trafficking going on. And when there is not found to be sex trafficking going on — which is now acknowledged — then this is not a case that can be won. And so I think they are trying to publicly humiliate Robert Kraft, trying to make him blink, and say ‘hey, we’re going to release the video of you getting a massage…’
“Does that seem fair? Does it seem fair to you from purely a privacy perspective that law enforcement can illegally obtain a warrant to film men engaging in what might well be consensual activity –because again, I don’t know that there is audio of this, so the idea that Robert Kraft solicited may not be true. He may have paid for a massage — certainly this is going to be his defense — then got a happy ending. Didn’t reject it, and then gave a tip at the end. If you are not specifically saying, in my mind, ‘here is this money, I am paying for sex, here is what I expect in exchange for this money,’ he can argue that the woman decided to do it of her own volition. He didn’t stop her….this is. I think, a clear attempt by the state of Florida to embarrass Robert Kraft, and I think the entire basis of this investigation was about trying to catch a famous person and publicly humiliate him to try and justify all the tax dollars that had been spent on this investigation.
“From the minute this came came out, I have been saying in a straightforward manner, if you have to choose which is creepier: A guy deciding to get a massage or the federal government or the state government deciding to get a wiretap, deciding to get a camera, and have our taxpayer dollars go to have a guy sitting there taking notes and videotaping while men get happy endings. Which is weirder here. I don’t think there is any doubt at all; it is what the government did, not what Robert Kraft did. So this to me is absolutely a travesty of justice. The state of Florida should be ashamed. Everyone in the police department, everyone in the D.A.’s office — this is a thoroughly indefensible situation. I think reasonable people need to be calling out prosecutorial overreach here, potentially prosecutorial inappropriate behavior in a legal system. Robert Kraft is going to win this case. The government knows it, and they are triggered here, and they are therefore throwing out all sorts of hail marys, making threats that are insanely done.”
In the same video, Travis pointed out that the media has ignored the NBA playoffs rations collapse, with viewership so far down 30 to 40 percent.
Check back for updates on the Robert Kraft soliciting prostitution allegations.
[Featured image: BrokenSphere, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 license.]
