A Florida judge on Tuesday ordered controversial police surveillance tapes allegedly showing New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft with prostitutes in a strip-mall massage parlor be kept under lock and key until a jury is seated or his criminal case is otherwise resolved by plea agreement or because his charges are dropped.
What Kraft is accused of doing “may seem like a rather tawdry but fairly unremarkable event” for the average man, reads 15th Judicial Circuit Judge Leonard Hanser’s decision. “But if that man is the owner of the most successful franchise in, arguably, the most popular professional sport in the United States, an entirely different dynamic arises, especially if the encounter is captured on videotape …”
Hanser’s order marks a major legal victory for Kraft, a 77-year-old widower with bragging rights to six Super Bowl championships in just 17 years.
Kraft’s ever-growing team of attorneys will go before Hanser on Friday in West Palm Beach to argue for suppressing the videos as evidence should his two misdemeanor charges of soliciting prostitution ever reach trial. The billionaire’s lawyers state in a separate court filing that they have subpoenaed 26 witnesses to potentially testify at Friday’s hearing unless prosecutors prevail in blocking them from doing so.
“This case has drawn extraordinary media attention and it is not because of the nature of the alleged crime. Rather, it is because Defendant is who he is,” Hanser wrote in his 10-page decision. The judge notes he has not seen the tapes.
Short of moving the case to another venue, Hanser said there are no alternatives to sealing the tapes that will protect Kraft’s right to a fair trial.
“It is difficult for this Court to see how providing opportunities to preview the evidence does not jeopardize Defendant’s right to a fair trial,” he wrote. “Although Defendant’s name may be fairly well known as a public figure, his facial characteristics and body image most likely are not nearly as well-known.”
Hanser pointed out that trial teams are not allowed to talk about evidence during the voir dire portion of jury selection.
“Were these videotapes put in the public sphere,” he wrote, “what is impermissible at voir dire would have already been accomplished. Defendants are guaranteed a fair and impartial trial by jury, not a trial by community.”
Hanser stipulated he reserves the right to reconsider his order depending on how he rules regarding the suppression matter.
At least 42 media outlets from across the country have been granted intervenor status in Kraft’s case in hopes of getting hold of the tapes that allegedly recorded him receiving sexual services from two prostitutes ages 45 and 58 at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Fla., on Jan. 19, and again with the 45-year-old on Jan. 20 — the same day the Patriots defeated the Kansas City Chiefs to clinch the AFC Championship.
