FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Florida prosecutors just raised the stakes in New England Patriots owner Robert Krafts fight against prostitution charges.
Its been nearly a year since the 78-year-old part-time Palm Beach resident paid for sex acts at a Jupiter massage parlor likened to a brothel.
But now lawyers for the state are arguing for the first time that Kraft charged with two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution actually committed a felony.
The latest court filing from the attorney generals office suggests Kraft could face a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, if the state wins its appeal of a lower court order favoring the billionaire.
Elevating multiple misdemeanors to a felony would be an unusual move.
I literally have never seen that enhancement used in any county, said veteran criminal defense attorney Jack Fleischman, who is not connected with the litigation. It has to be rare.
So, for that matter, is the high-profile Kraft case.
Observers across the country view it as a constitutional test that pits police powers to investigate crimes specifically the authority to use secret cameras against individual privacy rights.
Florida is challenging a judges order in May that tossed all evidence against Kraft, including sex videos that cops surreptitiously recorded during their prostitution sting.
The judge ruled police did not have a lawful sneak-and-peek warrant when surveillance cameras ran continuously for five days at Orchids of Asia Day Spa.
Kraft took Bentley-chauffeured trips to the business on Jan. 19 and 20, which was the day before and the morning of the American Football Conference Championship game. Reports say he showed a Super Bowl ring to an officer and asked the cop if he was a Miami Dolphins fan.
Kraft emerged as the most well-known figure from undercover investigations of 10 spas around the state. Nearly 300 men were charged overall last February, along with owners and employees.
Riding on the court outcome is the possibility that Kraft could be hit with sanctions from the National Football League. He has already apologized to his family, friends and fans who rightfully hold me to a higher standard.
The legal fight is now at the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach. Lawyers for the state have requested an opportunity for both sides to iron out their positions in person, before a three-judge panel makes a ruling.
Krafts representatives most recently slammed the states lawyers for violating a rule that restricts page counts in pleadings. The state had asked for special permission to file a 28-page argument, which is 13 pages longer than typically allowed.
That the State here is seeking to criminally prosecute one of its citizens using evidence obtained during a dragnet video surveillance scheme that breaks from Fourth Amendment constraints agreed on by other courts hardly entitles it to special dispensation or sympathy, wrote Kraft lawyers Frank Shepherd and William Burck.
