Prosecutors admit “sneak and peek” warrants in Kraft case were flawed

Posted by Mike Florio on May 21, 2019, 12:03 PM EDT

The prosecution of Patriots owner Robert Kraft — or, more accurately, his aggressive effort to challenge it — has brought to light troubling police practices regarding so-called “sneak and peek” warrants aimed at gathering evidence of prostitution in Florida massage parlors. It has become clear via the various legal skirmishes that law enforcement failed to take steps to protect the privacy rights of people who were simply getting massages, and nothing more.

It has become clear in part because prosecutors have now admitted it, in open court.

“We all agree they were not minimized properly,” assistant state attorney Greg Kridos said Monday in the case against the two women charged with prostitution as a result of surveillance efforts at the Orchids of Asia day spa in Jupiter, Florida. “Judge, I’ll be the first to tell you, we should have done it differently. . . . To those people, we obviously apologize. That should not have happened.”

Kridos made the concession, which surely will boost the class action filed on behalf of persons who were recorded while receiving massages, in support of the idea that the violations of individual privacy flowing from the secret recording of clearly innocent people should not protect those who were allegedly engaged in wrongdoing. The presiding judge disagreed, as multiple other judges in Florida have done.

The fight now shifts to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, in West Palm Beach. Regardless of the ruling, the issue undoubtedly will be headed to the Florida Supreme Court. ...

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