New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his legal team scored a big win on Tuesday, as a Florida judge ruled that police video that allegedly shows him receiving sex acts that he paid for will remain under seal, at least for the duration of his criminal case.
News organizations had been fighting for the video’s release, but Judge Leonard Hanser agreed with the defense that letting it get out into the open while the case is still going on would be unduly harmful to Kraft.
“The Court finds that preventing access at this time to the videotapes sought by [the media organizations] is necessary to prevent a serious and imminent threat to the administration of justice,” Hanser’s ruling said, according to the Palm Beach Post, which was one of the media outlets pushing for the tape’s release.
Kraft’s attorney William Burck argued at a hearing last week that there was no good reason to release the video to the media and public, as all of the alleged details were already in police paperwork. Burck said that since it wouldn’t add anything of significance, the video was “basically pornography.”
Kraft was charged with soliciting a prostitute in February, for allegedly paying for sex acts at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Fla.
Earlier on Tuesday, Shen Mingbi, one of the women who allegedly performed an act of Kraft, appeared in court after being charged in the case. She was released on $5,000 bond. Lei Wang, the other woman who allegedly performed an act on Kraft, has already been charged.
[Image via Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
