KRAFT-Y XXX-VID VICTORY VS. COPS
Spa sting-op unconstitutional
Police violated New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s rights when they surreptitiously videotaped him allegedly paying for sex acts at a Florida massage parlor, a court ruled Wednesday, dealing a blow to prosecutors’ case.
Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeals said Wednesday that the secretly recorded videos violated the 79-year-old NFL billionaire’s right to privacy and are out of bounds for Kraft’s upcoming solicitation trial.
The court ruled that the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure applied to the recordings.
“The type of law-enforcement surveillance utilized in these cases is extreme,” the three-judge panel wrote. “While there will be situations which may warrant the use of the techniques at issue, the strict Fourth Amendment safeguards developed over the past few decades must be observed.
“If they are not, any evidence obtained could very well be declared inadmissible as a matter of constitutional law,” the ruling said.
“To permit otherwise would yield unbridled discretion to agents of law enforcement and the government.”
The ruling creates a significant hurdle for Florida state prosecutors.
“We are in the process of reviewing the opinion and will comment publicly at the appropriate time,” the State Attorney’s Office said in a statement, according to NBC’s West Palm Beach affiliate.
Kraft’s lawyers, meanwhile, said the recordings should never have been made in the first place.
“This ruling protects the constitutional rights and civil liberties of all the men and women who were illegally spied on in this case,” the defense team said in a statement to The New York Times.
“More broadly, this ruling will further protect the civil liberties of all Americans by helping prevent future Fourth Amendment violations like those that occurred in this case.”
Kraft was among those arrested in February 2019 in a Florida investigation into prostitution at Sunshine State massage parlors.
Florida State Attorney Dave Aronberg said Kraft was one of 25 men accused of paying for sex acts at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter.
Several spa owners and employees were also charged.
Kraft, who owns a home in Palm Beach, pleaded not guilty but issued a public apology after the arrest.