Judge grants Robert Kraft's request to suppress spa surveillance video

[Jose Garcia]

Source: CNN

(CNN) A Florida judge granted NFL team owner Robert Kraft's request to suppress surveillance video footage and other evidence in his prostitution solicitation case.

The ruling is a major blow to the case against Kraft, whose lawyers argued that the evidence was gathered illegally.

Kraft is one of dozens of spa patrons accused of receiving illicit massages at the Orchids of Asia spa in January.

He and other defendants pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges based on what authorities described as evidence collected from the recordings and other surveillance methods.

Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/05/13/us/robert-kraft-spa-surveillance-video/index.html

[Wednesdays]

1. I said right at the beginning that he would walk.

[bluestarone]

2. MONEY talks

Judges listen!

[blueinredohio]

3. Amen

[MosheFeingold]

16. I was actually thinking

About the majority of the patrons (male and female) who merely got perfectly legal massages -- they were all filmed naked.

Total violation of privacy of innocent people. The police are not allowed to go on a fishing expedition like this, throwing over a net and seeing what they catch.

So, while it's a shame this rich guy walks, it's the right decision.

[bluestarone]

19. TY i do see your point!

Maybe i see ONLY the bad reasons for a judges decision. Putting it this way, it does make sense to me now!

[hannah]

4. Kraft

It’s a freaking misdemeanor, he should walk!

[Mr.Bill]

6. Either way, that was a very expensive hand job.

I'll bet he's into this for a few hundred grand at least.

[CatMor]

7. Ugh .... That is one video I would never want to see.

[YOHABLO]

8. I just really don't care. I would imagine the judge gets paid mucho dinero by Kraft.

The super wealthy don't have to abide by the same laws as commoners.

[getagrip_already]

9. This was unconstitutional from the start....

As much as I'd love to see kraft humiliated and convicted, the fact is this surveilance was corrupt from the start.

They set up cameras in a private establishment where the public would normally be naked, and let it run for 6+ months. They only charged a handful out of what had to be thousands of people they filmed. Even some woman went into those establishments not knowing what they were.

This operation wasn't about trafficking or protecting woman. It was about a prosecutorial body count.

The judge was absolutely correct to throw out those videos. They were way beyond a mistake.

[MosheFeingold]

17. +1000% You beat me to it. n/t

[forgotmylogin]

18. If the video is suppressed, the defense can't deny it exists.

The jury doesn't need to see the actual images as long as they know it exists.

[getagrip_already]

23. not how it works...

If it's suppressed, the jury isn't told it exists. And they are instructed that they can't use anything they heard about outside of the courtroom.

In effect, it doesn't exist.

Evidence is tossed out frequently. It doesn't mean it doesn't accurately depict what happened, it means it can't be used.

[forgotmylogin]

28. Oh, you're right.

I forgot that the jury is sequestered from specific information. That's rather frustrating.

[getagrip_already]

30. not at all.....

At least if you believe in constitutional rights and the rule of law.

These practices protect us as citizens. Do some guilty people get off? Sure, but a lot of people get to live their lives in relative freedom from illegal searches and seizures.

Remember "stop and frisk"? It was tossed out as unconstitutional because thousands of innocent people had their rights violated and worse. A black man couldn't walk down the street without fearing the police would humiliate them in public. So a judge correctly declared the practice unconstitutional and threw out any evidence found.

So now the police at least need a fig leaf of probable cause, but they do still need it.

This was a tactic too far over the line. The evidence was justifiable thrown out.

[forgotmylogin]

31. Makes sense.

I suppose they have no need to prosecute everyone who showed up on video. It's disturbing that everyone was being surveilled in a state of potential undress who didn't know and possibly weren't doing anything wrong.

[JonLP24]

20. I'm sure they had warrants and a judge every step up the way.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/3048361002

[getagrip_already]

22. that doesn't mean much...

Judges issue warrants all the time without all the correct information, and they get tossed out as invalid. That's what happened here.

[JonLP24]

24. I didn't read it all the way to the bottom

That is a major blow to their case if this affects other prosecutions. If they were dealing drugs that whole place would be wired but it is more difficult to prosecute selling people.

[getagrip_already]

26. drugs are tangible....

Sex is circumstantial. Payment for sex even more so.

Without the videos, all the johns who haven't cut a plea will walk.

[lark]

10. There is zero justice in America if the perp is rich - zero.

[MissMillie]

11. Does anyone happen to know...

what's going on with the people who owned/operated this "spa?"

In the beginning there were allegations that the "employees" were being held against their will and were being forced to provide these "services."

Seems to me that this is the crime that needs attention. I haven't seen/heard a whiff of it in the national press.

[Marcuse]

12. On weekends you can find them at Mar a Lago.

[MissMillie]

13. I do know and appreciate that

but I was talking about what charges they're facing and where the case stands in the court.

[getagrip_already]

25. just a guess....

But without trafficking charges, and no direct evidence they knew prostitution was occurring, very little.

They can be fined for license violations, tax violations, and a lot of small offenses but without being able to introduce any direct evidence, they are going to walk.

[Jose Garcia]

14. Prosecutor in Robert Kraft massage parlor case concedes 'no human trafficking' found in investigatio

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://amp.businessinsider.com/robert-kraft-massage-parlor-prosecutor-no-human-trafficking-2019-4&ved=2ahUKEwiV-evXmpviAhUBM6wKHWm4CwcQFjAAegQICBAB&usg=AOvVaw39haKAhalzfPDyluI5CbcI&ampcf=1

[MosheFeingold]

15. Mandatory Inappropriate Joke

Q: What did the prostitute tell, Mr. Kraft, owner of the Patriots?

A: "Mr. Kraft, I'm not sure what I can do with these deflated balls."

[HopeAgain]

27. Money talks

[Paladin]

29. "Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi."

Ancient Latin saying: "What is allowed the gods is not allowed the cattle."

A little classier way of saying "Money talks."