Robert Kraft’s legal team files motion to suppress evidence
Robert Kraft’s attorneys filed a new motion on Wednesday to suppress video footage evidence linking him to a major Florida prostitution sting operation.
A day after news broke that prosecution in the Palm Beach County prostitution case had offered Robert Kraft and other defendants a unique plea deal, Kraft’s legal team fought back by filing a court motion to suppress video evidence in the trial.
If granted, the motion would ensure the surveillance camera footage taken from the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter never gets released. Reportedly, that footage is said to show Kraft paying for and receiving illicit sexual services from massage parlor employees twice before the AFC Championship Game.
On Tuesday, Kraft and other men connected to the prostitution scandal were offered a plea deal in which their charges would be dropped if they met certain conditions: the defendants would need to “pay $5,000 fines for each offense (Kraft was charged with two), complete an educational course about prostitution, submit to testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and admit in court that they would have been found guilty had the case gone to trial,” per a report by ESPN’s T.J. Quinn.
According to a source close to the New England Patriots owner, “that’s not going to happen” though. This same source, named in the Quinn story, claims that Kraft “would rather fight the charges in court than admit to a crime.”
There is legitimate speculation that Kraft could prevail if the case goes to trial because of the high-powered legal team he has assembled, and the belief that “there was no probable cause to collect the evidence in the first place.” Florida authorities reportedly planted numerous cameras and other surveillance recording equipment in dozens of suspected massage parlors they had targeted in the operation.
Sources named in the Quinn report note that “the two sides were continuing to negotiate a deal and that Kraft had not rejected the (plea) deal outright.”
The ESPN story also points out that “documents show that the two women Kraft is accused of receiving services from likely were not trafficked: one is 39 and was charged with operating illegal activity at the spa; the other is 58 years old. Both have valid drivers’ licenses and both are licensed as massage therapists by the state of Florida.”
Next. Robert Kraft charged with solicitation of prostitution. dark
This last bit of information could prove critical in the way the case progresses, as Kraft is reportedly very concerned and opposed to his name being linked to accusations of sex trafficking. If indeed the women he received services from were consenting adults not forced into trafficking, it could theoretically help both repair his public image and aid his case in court.