FOXBOROUGH, MA — Prosecutors had announced Wednesday that a video showing New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and others engaging in sex acts for money at a Florida spa would be made public. But following an emergency motion filed by Kraft’s attorney, a Florida judge is issuing a temporary protective order, keeping the video from being released for at least two weeks.
According to Kraft’s defense team, the release of the video would “violate Mr. Kraft’s constitutional rights if disseminated, and Mr. Kraft has an obvious and profound stake in any potential disclosure of the sensitive materials at issue, which, among other things, show him naked, and should therefore be permitted to intervene for the sake of protecting his interests and informing the Court’s decision,” the defense wrote in court documents.
Prosecutors had said they would release the video instead of waiting for a judge rule on the matter, The Boston Globe reported. Because of charges against the two owners of Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, the were supposed to be released as part of their cases, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg’s office said in court documents. The protective order keeps the prosecution from releasing the videos, at least for now.
State attorney officials said they are obligated under state law to release the video to the public and cannot wait for the judge to decide. Spa manager Lei Wang and owner Hua Zhang pleaded not guilty to maintaining a house of prostitution and numerous other charges. Wang’s attorney, like Kraft also filed a motion to have the videos suppressed. A judge scheduled a hearing May 17 to consider the motion.
Prosecutors said they cannot wait until then because they’d be violating the Florida state “Public Records Act.” However the protective order keeps the videos from being released until a hearing scheduled for April 29.
“(Prosecutors) as the custodian of the records, cannot delay the release of records to allow a person to raise a constitutional challenge to the release of the documents,” Aronberg’s office said. “The Public Records Act does not allow a custodian to delay the production of records to allow the resolution of a constitutional challenge to the release of the documents.”
Kraft, 77, pleaded not guilty to two counts of soliciting prostitution. Robert Kraft’s lawyers ramped up their efforts last week to keep the video from coming out after several media outlets requested that the video be made public. Kraft’s attorney, Robert Burck argued there’s no reason for the the video to be released and the only motivation for requesting so is for media groups to get “eyeballs and clicks.”
“It’s basically pornography,” Kraft attorney Burck said in last Friday. “I don’t think there’s interest the state has, or the media has, in publishing it … there’s no need to actually see the video.”
Kraft’s lawyers also filed a motion pending, which challenges the legality of the videos being released. They argued the videos are exempt from disclosure under Florida public records law because they stem from an illegally granted warrant, authorizing police to install cameras at the spa, based off a false premise of human trafficking occurring at the spa.
“We think the video in particular is very harmful and was obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” Burck said.
Prosecutors admitted in court Friday that they had no evidence of any human trafficking at the spa, despite their initial thoughts.
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