Robert Kraft parlor video tapes ruled inadmissible by judge

In a crucial ruling released Monday, a judge decided that prosecutors cannot use the video evidence allegedly linking Robert Kraft to solicitation charges.

Judge Leonard Hanser dealt a significant blow to the prosecution in the Robert Kraft prostitution case on Monday.

In a 10-page ruling issued to the public, Hanser officially suppressed the video evidence taken from secretly-installed cameras in the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida. The surveillance footage reportedly contained visual proof of Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, and 24 other men paying for and receiving illicit services from the massage parlor employees.

Hanser decided that the footage is inadmissible as evidence in the upcoming court trial though, because “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.”

If his ruling isn’t appealed or overturned, it effectively nullifies the most damning evidence the prosecution had on Kraft and the other defendants. As such, Kraft’s attorneys immediately filed a motion to dismiss the entire case altogether on the grounds of “lack of evidence.” The courts are expected to decide on that motion this upcoming Friday.

While Kraft hasn’t outright denied doing anything unlawful at the day spa – and he did issue a public apology for his role in the ensuing scandal – he has staunchly maintained his plea of not guilty throughout the entire criminal process. He reportedly turned down the prosecution’s offer of a plea deal back in March; a decision that now looks prescient in light of Hanser’s decision Monday.

Kraft and the other defendants were originally accused back in late February of paying for and receiving illicit services at a string of massage parlors located throughout Palm Beach County, Florida. Though there were originally concerns linking Kraft to sex trafficking, the employees he interacted with are now no longer considered to be involved with trafficking in any way.