Whether it’s TMZ or Jay Glazer, many believe that the alleged video of Patriots owner Robert Kraft at a day spa in Florida inevitably will be obtained and displayed, for all the world to see. While it may indeed be inevitable, it won’t be easy.
In past cases like those involving Kareem Hunt and Ray Rice, a third party generated the video. In this case, the state generated the video as part of a broader investigation regarding the alleged activities occurring at the spa. Thus, if anyone will be leaking it, it will be someone in law enforcement, since only law enforcement has the video. While that’s not impossible, it’s far less likely to happen than when, for example, a private security guard secretly secures a copy of the video and sells it to TMZ.
Florida Criminal Procedure contemplates that Kraft will receive a copy of the video on request. And, once he has the video, the league will have the ability to request a copy of it from him. In the Rice case, the league stubbornly took the position that it couldn’t force Rice to surrender the notorious in-elevator video of the knockout punch that ended not only his career but also the Commissioner’s. The league could have instructed Rice to instruct his lawyer to hand over the video, and the league in this case can do the same thing.
Regardless, TMZ surely will be trying to get the video. And maybe TMZ will. But to get the video, TMZ will have to work a little harder than it did when getting the Hunt and Rice videos, and whoever in law enforcement discloses it could be taking a much bigger risk than those who leaked the Hunt and Rice videos.
