WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The state's appeal to allow secretly-recorded video evidence from inside day spas in the wake of a multi-jurisdiction prostitution bust last year will go before a panel of judges in May.
The high-profile police investigation spanned from Jupiter up the Treasure Coast and swept up hundreds of defendants for allegedly soliciting prostitution, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Kraft faces two counts of misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution after police claim he visited the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter in February 2019. He denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Records show the Fourth District Court of Appeal scheduled oral arguments for May 21. Attorneys on each side will be allowed 42 minutes to make their arguments before the three-judge panel.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal will hear arguments impacting all cases in both Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast that are currently under appeal.
The appeal stems from a judge's ruling handed down last spring which barred the use of secretly-recorded video evidence from inside the Jupiter day spa at trial.
Judges in both Martin County and Indian River County issued similar rulings.
Three defendants from the Orchids of Asia Day Spa, Lei Wang, 40, Shen Mingbi, 59, and Hua Zhang, 59, all face various felony charges for allegedly working at the day spa in Jupiter.
Zhang, Wang and Mingbi have all pleaded not guilty to their charges.
A fourth defendant from the Jupiter day spa, Lei Chen, recently pleaded guilty to eight misdemeanors and agreed to be deported.
