Newly released court filings suggest the charges against Patriots owner Robert Kraft may be in jeopardy.
An exchange between Kraft’s attorneys and prosecutors this week over the legality of surveillance inside the Orchids of Asia Day Spa revealed a pressing issue for authorities in Jupiter, Florida:
The officer who pulled over Kraft’s car following his spa visit was recorded on a police radio exchange saying he’d “come up with something” to justify a traffic stop where he identified a suspect who departed the spa immediately before Kraft.
During that traffic stop, a radio exchange between officers gave Kraft’s attorneys reason to believe that the traffic stop was manipulated.
Kraft’s team argues police had no basis to make the stops, which police said they made so they could identify the Johns. While Officer Scott Kimbark was on the stand, lawyers asked him if he had said during a previous stop he’d “make shit up” if he didn’t have a valid reason.
— T.J. Quinn (@TJQuinnESPN) May 7, 2019
In the exchange:
* Officers first discuss a traffic infraction that occurred inside the parking lot of the day spa.
* One officer asks if anyone had “anything better than pulling out of that plaza?”
* A second officer responds that the suspect was driving like “an angel” after leaving the parking lot.
* Kimbark, who eventually pulled the suspect over, responded “Alright I’ll come up with something when I tell him.”
While the suspect being spoken about wasn’t Kraft, it was the patron who left the day spa directly before him.
That exchange came from the officer’s body cam footage which hasn’t been provided in the Kraft case. At the very least, it opens a window of dispute in Kraft’s defense because it suggests that police engineered elements of the traffic stop to gain the information needed in their case.
There may be some legitimate questions regarding Jupiter police department’s procedures in the case, while also potentially throwing out the traffic stop that identified Kraft.
If Kraft’s attorneys can prove this, Kraft may be off the hook.
He has the best lawyers money can buy, so you know he has a shot.
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