I thought New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was out of the woods with that alleged prostitution massage parlor story from over a year ago.
It seems now that Florida prosecutors are going after Kraft to increase charges against him in a wide-ranging prostitution case. First, the state has to win the appeal. They lost in the lower court. So they need an appeals panel to conclude the lower court judge was off his rocker. Good luck.
They are pushing as hard as they can because he won’t take a plea deal. This is what prosecutors do. But they are swimming upstream right now.
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As the Sun-Sentinel reported, Florida prosecutors appear to be putting the squeeze on the billionaire NFL owner nearly a year after he allegedly paid for a sex act at a massage parlor in Jupiter. Prosecutors are arguing that the two misdemeanor counts of soliciting a prostitute now actually constitute a felony, which the report noted was an unusual move for state prosecutors.
“I literally have never seen that enhancement used in any county,” longtime criminal defense attorney Jack Fleischman, who has no connection to the case, told the Sun-Sentinel. “It has to be rare,” he added.
As the report noted, Kraft visited the spa twice in January, once the day before the Patriots competed in the AFC Championship Game and again the morning of the contest. He has maintained his innocence since first being charged, and the legal proceedings have now dragged on for close to a year.
The state has issued a court filing arguing that Kraft could face a third-degree felony that could land him in prison for up to five years, though the state would first have to win an appeal from a judge. Kraft has already won in court, having secretly filmed video from inside the spa thrown out after a judge ruled that police did not have a proper warrant to run cameras continuously for five days inside the spa. Legal experts said that with the dismissal, Kraft could be able to win an acquittal. [Inquisitr]
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I feel this is a classic example of a prosecutor who has a “big fish” in his sights and spending more time and money than the charge deserves. Let’s remember Florida was the state that let Epstein plead his charges down and only served 13 months in prison, but now the prosecutor wants a rub and tug elevated to a felony. Get real, Florida!
Kraft is being made an example to frighten all the non-millionaires who might think of partaking of the forbidden fruit of “happy endings.” He’s also a feather in the cap of the DA if he can make the charges stick, and a conviction result.
Prosecutors are just trying to save themselves and cops too much embarrassment. By upping the charges they hope he’ll plead guilty to the lesser charges, so he can avoid the bad publicity and prison if convicted. Might work on the average citizen, but doubt it will work on a billionaire with the best lawyers money can buy.
Pressure is not the operative word. It sounds like someone in the Florida prosecutor’s office is engaging in an extortion scheme. This is going to blow-up on the prosecutor, who will be facing a malicious prosecution lawsuit.
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