Posted on 05/13/2019 9:16:56 PM PDT by HalfIrish
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors cannot use secretly recorded video allegedly showing New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft engaging in massage parlor sex, a judge ruled Monday, striking a serious blow to their case against him and others charged with soliciting prostitutes at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa.
In his 10-page ruling, Judge Leonard Hanser wrote that Jupiter police detectives and the judge who issued the search warrant allowing the secret installation of cameras at the spa did not do enough to minimize the invasion of privacy of customers who only received legal massages. Hanser also ruled that detectives cannot testify about what they saw on the video or when they stopped Kraft.
If upheld on appeal, Hanser's ruling could lead to prosecutors dropping the second-degree misdemeanor cases against Kraft and other men charged with paying for sex at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. Kraft, 77, has pleaded not guilty but issued a public apology.
"The fact that some totally innocent women and men had their entire lawful time spent in a massage room fully recorded and viewed intermittently by a detective-monitor is unacceptable," Hanser wrote. He said the judge should have given the officers explicit instruction for how to monitor the video.
Kraft's attorneys argued during a recent hearing aimed at throwing out the recordings that Florida law allowing audio wiretaps says they can only be used for serious felonies such as murder or kidnapping, not lesser offenses such as prostitution. They argued video, which is not specifically covered under Florida law, should have a higher threshold.
Hanser agreed, writing "video surveillance is even more invasive of privacy, just as a strip search is more invasive than a pat down search."
(Excerpt) Read more at pro32.ap.org ...
Good news!
It isn’t enough to prohibit the use of the tape. The cops used a black bag operation to bug the room.
They belong behind bars.
Whatta bout 2 hr/wk at the spa?
To reduce stress...
Well just leave them for New Zealand
Nobody wants to see those videotapes.
70 y/o gnome doing the hoochie-coochie with
‘paid escorts’. Draw the drapes and leave him alone.
If I had to spend several hours a day on a surveillance detail (this is not spying. It isn't! The FBI does not authorize the use of the word) which involved the collateral necessity of looking at luscious scantily clad, if clad at all, Asian honeys in a massage parlor, I would be totally stressed - well at least some part of me would be stressed out of er uh, my mind. Totally. 2hr/wk would be utterly insufficient.
No Instant Replay?
An X-rated warrant. Maybe we can invent AI editing software to cover up the naught bits/parts so they stressed out detectives don't have to stress out over those portions of the tape.
I’m glad he’s fighting this smear job. This case had nothing to do with fighting human trafficking and everything about burnishing the political career of some sheriff or DA once a rich guy ended up on tape. A defendant of normal means swept up in a sting like this wouldn’t be able to fight back, and precedent means a lot.
The masseuse in this case was 57. Pass.
CC
They should not be able to release it to the newspapers and websites that want to make money off of it either. It should remain sealed.
A serious blow.
Prostitution in the Atlantic beach communities of Florida? I’m shocked! Time to root the world’s second oldest profession out of that state and protect the morals of its citizens. Carl Hiassen agrees with me.
LOL!
Illegal Use of Hands?
if kraft were poor, the tapes would have played on local news before he was charged.
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