Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots February 22, 2019 - Emergency Edition: Robert Kraft

Episode Date: February 22, 2019

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Hello everybody and welcome into a Friday news dump edition, emergency edition of the Lockdown Patriots podcast. Mark Scofield in the big chair for today, Friday, February 22nd, 2019. And as many of you probably know, I come to the world of football media after a rather up-and-down time spent practicing law. And I often joke that there are times in the football media world where I'm forced to, shall we say, put the lawyer hat back on and sort of think about real world things, whether it's, you know, salary capital implications

or contract negotiations or off the field incidents. And if you would have told me, or let me put it this way, if you were to have asked me you know mark as we get into the offseason you know sometimes we see players and people around the nfl get themselves into a wee bit of trouble is there somebody that makes you think that you might have to put your lawyer hat back on or conversely is there somebody who would be the last person you would think that might make you have to put your lawyer hat back on or conversely is there somebody who would be the last person you would think that might make you have to put your lawyer hat back on and in answering that potential hypothetical second question perhaps the last person i would have thought that might have forced me to put the lawyer hat back on if even for a moment was new england patriots owner robert craft

well happy friday patriots fans because I am putting the lawyer hat back on, and it is indeed Patriots owner Robert Kraft who is forcing me into that position. Because word came out today that as part of a human trafficking slash prostitution ring an investigation, Robert Kraft is going to be charged with two counts, two counts of soliciting someone to commit prostitution. This stems from a raid on a day spa in Juniper, Florida. Again, to repeat, two counts of soliciting someone to commit prostitution stemming from a raid on a day spa. Kraft was linked to a sting that has been going on for months, and his charges relate specifically to two different visits to the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in the city of Juniper, police say.

According to Juniper police spokeswoman Kristen Reitler, charges have been filed, but he has not been arrested. A spokesperson for the Patriots owner has denied that he committed a crime. We categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity. Because it is a judicial matter, We will not be commenting further. Now, Kraft is one of more than 20 people so far being charged with soliciting to commit prostitution. And that is according to Juniper Police Chief Daniel Kerr. He made that statement at a news conference today on Friday. The evidence against Kraft includes video of him in a room at the spa receiving quote paid acts close quote and of him being driven to the spa by a chauffeur. In addition all of the individuals police have charged and listed on a sheet a sort of list of customers have all been caught on video. Officers involved in the stand had been wearing body cameras and were also involved in ongoing surveillance at

the business. Now, we can sort of break this down into the craft implications and part of this, the bigger picture stuff, and what this might mean for the New England Patriots. Let's take this from the craft perspective, first and foremost. Now, these chargers, they are second-degree misdemeanors, and they generally carry no more than a 60-day sentence in county jail. Now, another thing to consider here is there is an interest in provision of Florida law that you thing to consider here is there is an interest in provision of Florida law that you have to complete 100 hours of community service to attend and attend a prostitution and human trafficking awareness course.

And so those are the sort of real world legal ramifications for Robert Kraft. Now, these are misdemeanors. They are not felony charges. And so there is a difference here. And with respect to the sort of statute in question, again, putting the legal hat back on for a second, the relevant section of the Florida Criminal Code, section 796.07, that's chapter 796 of the criminal code section titled prostitution it is unlawful this is section 2 or subpart 2 to receive this is subpart c to receive or to offer

or agree to receive any person into any place structure building or conveyance for the purpose of prostitution which is defined as the giving or receiving of the body for sexual activity for hire, but exclude sexual activity between spouses. So, to receive somebody into a building or conveyance or whatever for that purpose, lugnis or assignation, or to permit any person to remain there for such purpose. Or subsection 2f, to solicit, induce, entice, or procure another to commit prostitution, lewdness, or assassination. That's kind of it. One thing that I'm curious about,

they said in the statements today from the Juniper Police Department that they have him twice on this. Again, going back to what the statement said, the evidence includes video of Kraft in a room at the spa receiving paid acts and of him being driven to the spa. Two different visits. That's a direct quote. Now here, back, returning to the statute, a person who violates paragraph 2F, which is, again, that is the section which basically says to solicit, induce, entice, or procure another one to commit prostitution. It is a misd violates any provision of the subject and commits a misdemeanor of the second degree for a first violation but a misdemeanor of the first degree for a second violation so i do wonder if there's going to be a distinction

made here between the two different visions and whether this is a first violation or a second violation situation i would imagine off the cuff answer they are going to lump this is a first violation or a second violation situation. I would imagine off-the-cuff answer, they are going to lump this in the first violation because typically in criminal statutes, a violation means being charged with it, you know, in one sort of instance and circumstance. So I think that would apply if he's already been charged with this, found guilty of it, pled guilty to it, whatever,

and then he gets whacked again. It's kind of like a first violation, second violation. That's typically how that goes down. So that is something I'll be keeping an eye on. I do think that he'll just be hit for a first violation situation here. So that's kind of the Robert Kraft real world legal situation. There is a bigger story here, which is something that, you know, and it's easy when something like this happens to pop off the tweets and the takes and the jokes on Twitter. But there is an underlying darker side to this story, which is this isn't just a sort of prostitution rent situation. This is a human trafficking situation. And some of the early reporting around this story is rather dark and

horrific. And so while obviously Patriots fans, people around the football world are going to be sort of focused on the football side of things and the craft story here, you know, there's a real world story here, sort of a macro situation that we should not lose sight of, you know, and I've seen people on Twitter sort of talk about how this would be a good time to read up on human trafficking, people that are forced into sex work, perhaps not completely by their own volition and will, sometimes forced into bad situations. And so this is a good sort of teaching moment, opportunity type moment where you can read about this stuff. You can try to find organizations that help people and work against traffic and maybe donate some money, things like that.

So I did want to mention that aspect of this story because I think it's important not to lose sight of sort of the big picture here. The other thing to consider is what is going to happen, if anything, to Robert Kraft from the NFL? Does anything happen to the Patriots? Now, the NFL did release a statement saying that the NFL is aware of the ongoing law enforcement matter and will continue to monitor developments. That was it. One sentence. Now, the NFL's personal conduct policy does include the behavior of team owners. According to the conduct policy, everyone who is part of the league must refrain from, quote, conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in, close quote, the National Football League. This includes owners, coaches, players,

other team employees game officials and employees of the league office nfl films nfl network or any other nfl business that also indicates that owners are held to a higher standard ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline when violations of the personal conduct policy occur two bits of sort of Parallel Case law if you want to use that phrase on this one Jim mercy

remember the Colts owner now he pled guilty to a charge of driving while intoxicated. He was hit with a six-game suspension and a $500,000 fine, which was the maximum allowed under NFL rules. Goodell, in that case, did not impose further punishment on the Colts because, and this will be important going forward, Goodell decided Irsay's actions did not have a, quote,

competitive consequence, close quote. Now, Irsay was arrested after a traffic stop in Indiana. Toxicology reports show that he had both hydrocodone and oxycodone in his system. He initially was charged with two counts of driving while intoxicated, reached a deal to plead guilty to just the one charge.

That sentence included 60 days in Hamilton County Jail, 58 days of the sentence were suspended, and he was given two days of credit for the one day that he served. Now, we're hearing people, Bart Scott, for example, on radio today saying that the Patriots should have all their draft picks taken away. I think that obviously, given recent history, that will probably be a bridge too far. As Goodell himself said in the Ursae situation, there is no competitive consequence associated with the actions of the owner. Nothing that Robert Kraft did at this day spa in Jupiter on these two different occasions has any sort of implications with respect to the Patriots on the field.

Goodell can drop the hammer on him. Sure, he might do that. He might hit him with the half a million dollar fine, which is the maximum allowed. He might suspend him for eight, 10, 16 games. But this idea that somehow there will be picks taken away, the entire draft class taken away,

it would be hard for Roger Goodell to implement that kind of punitive sanction on Kraft and the Patriots, given the fact that there was no competitive consequence to his actions. Again, judging by precedent. Now, I mentioned there was another sort of case of precedent here to just keep in mind, and it's a little bit different given the position that this person had. But as we talked talked about this person also fell under the nfl policy conduct policy and that was warren sapp who was fired from his job as an analyst for the nfl

network after being arrested in phoenix on one count of solicit and prostitution and two counts of assault both misdemeanor defenses per the maricopa county Sheriff's Office. Now, his contract was terminated pretty much right away. And again, people who work for the NFL Network, again, that's right out of the personal conduct policy, are subject to it. I don't think there's going to be similar ramifications here for Robert Kraft. I don't think he's going to lose the team or anything like that. But I did at least want to mention the warren sapp situation and look it's an ugly situation for a number of reasons you know mostly the macro situation here

the human traffic and element that is a horrific situation you know know, what Robert Kraft did, you may feel one way about it or the other. I'm not going to go down that road. But the bigger picture here is something that we should sort of keep in mind. Will there be ramifications for Kraft personally? Yes, obviously. Both from the league and from the legal system.

Will there be ramifications for the Patriots? I don't think so. I think it would be really sort of hard for Roger Goodell to go down that road and dock them draft picks or anything like that, given the situation, the parallel situation with Jim Irsay. So that's kind of where we're at with this. Now, obviously, I'd rather be talking about other things. I'd rather be talking about anything else on a Friday afternoon but I had to come and you know drop some takes for a little bit that will do it for today I will be back

Monday look we just got comp picks announced so we are going to do a mock draft Monday with 12 picks to it that's going to be some fun stuff to do so that's coming your way Monday until then have a fantastic weekend stay out of trouble friends I'll be back then please by all means

I beg of you stay out of trouble and keep it locked right here to then. Please, by all means, I beg of you, stay out of trouble and keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield and Locked on Patriots.