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Hundreds mourn girl whose body was dumped on hiking trail

Most had never met her, didn't even know her name until they saw it on the news.

But moved by the tragic death of a 9-year-old girl whose body was found stuffed into a duffel bag and discarded on a hillside trail — like so much trash, as one mourner put it — people turned out by the hundreds Monday for an at-times joyous, at other times angry and frustrated interfaith service celebrating the life of Trinity Love Jones.

They all but filled the pews of spacious St. John Vianney Catholic Church in the Los Angeles suburb of Hacienda Heights, just a couple of miles (3.2 kilometers) from where a park worker had found Trinity's body on March 5. She was dressed in pants with a panda pattern and a pink shirt — her favorite color — that proclaimed, "Future Princess Hero."

Her mother and her mother's boyfriend have been charged with murder.

"I don't even know them but I just had to come. I have grandchildren her age," Camille Boswell of the nearby city of Placentia said of Trinity and her family. "Any time a ... child dies, it hurts."

Following the wishes of Trinity's father, Antonio, she had arrived in a bright blue and white suit and bright blue hat because Trinity liked bright colors. Other mourners wore buttons with her name and photo on them.

Many acknowledged they had no idea who she was when her body was found on March 5, but they followed the news daily, stunned that such a thing could happen to an innocent 9-year-old.

Hacienda Heights, 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, is in many ways an insular community of 54,000 people, made up of large numbers of white, Latino and Asian residents. It's walled off on two sides by hillsides dotted with large homes that offer stunning views. In the center are rows and rows of neatly kept 1960s-era tract homes.

As word of Trinity's death spread across the city through social media, local resident Kara Clark said people felt they had to do something to show their respects to her family and to also make it clear they are fed up with a society gripped by such wanton violence.

"When we first heard what happened to this child my first thought was that it could have been my granddaughter," she said. "Enough is enough with all of this stuff that happens in our world — it's awful."

Soon after the service began at noon on a warm, sun-splashed day on the church's outdoor plaza, six pallbearers, including Trinity's father, emerged dressed in matching white suits with pink vests to usher her tiny coffin inside. At the altar was a pink teddy bear and balloon. Behind it was a 9-foot-tall (2.7-meter) photo of Trinity smiling shyly and dressed in a leopard-print outfit.

"It is so fitting that we are underneath this bright sun, because what we celebrate today is the light that Trinity has within, the eternal light that has not been extinguished," Father Egren Gomez told mourners before leading them into the sanctuary.

Before going inside, mourners saw 90 candles lighted in honor of Trinity's life — 10 for each of her nine years — and heard the church's bells toll for 90 seconds.

Inside, her life was celebrated with songs and eulogies from a cross-section of religious leaders, including Catholic priest Gomez, Pastor Darnell Hammock of the New Life Community Church of Oakland and Venerable Miao Hsi, a nun from the nearby Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple, near where Trinity's body was found.

The fieriest eulogy came from Hammock, who acknowledged that although Trinity's murder had brought people of all faiths together, he realized many would leave wondering why it had happened.

"Why God? Why so soon? Why our baby? Why our niece. Why my student ...

"I got to be honest, church, I too wrestled with these questions as I prepared today," he said, adding her death reminded him of those of numerous other young people snuffed out before their time.

"I'm here to ask myself, 'When do we change the channel of this alarming episode of young black girls dying?'" he shouted, an exhortation that brought the largely white audience to its feet.

But he went on to tell mourners not to pass the chance to work together going forward.

"I want the community here today to embrace this outlook that we are in this together," he said.

Miao Hsi added that Buddhist faith accepts that although Trinity is gone, her spirit lives on in every person she leaves behind.

"We are here to celebrate Miss Trinity's rebirth," she said. "May she feel love, joy and peace."

Source: Fox News National

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At least 293 people dead in Mozambique after cyclone: U.N.

Survivors move to high ground at Peacock growth point in Chimanimani
Survivors move to high ground at Peacock growth point in Chimanimani, near the Mozambique border, Zimbabwe, March 22, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

March 23, 2019

BEIRA (Reuters) – At least 293 people have died in Mozambique after a cyclone that led to catastrophic flooding, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Saturday.

“We’re going to have to wait until the flood waters recede until we know the full expanse of the toll on the people of Mozambique,” OCHA coordinator Sebastian Rhodes Stampa said.

(Reporting by Emma Rumney; Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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Commerzbank CEO and board take a pay cut in 2018

FILE PHOTO: Martin Zielke, CEO of Germany's Commerzbank addresses the media during the bank's annual news conference in Frankfurt
FILE PHOTO: Martin Zielke, CEO of Germany's Commerzbank addresses the media during the bank's annual news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo

March 27, 2019

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Commerzbank’s chief executive officer took a 32 percent pay cut in 2018, according to the bank’s annual report on Wednesday.

Total compensation for Martin Zielke was 1.97 million euros, down from 2.88 million euros in 2017.

Pay for the management board of the German bank, which is in talks with Deutsche Bank to merge, declined 24 percent.

(Reporting by Tom Sims, Hans Seidenstuecker and Arno Schuetze; editing by Thomas Seythal)

Source: OANN

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Dutch detain 2 suspected of providing arms for Paris attacks

Dutch prosecutors say police have detained two men in Amsterdam on suspicion of involvement in providing weapons used in the deadly November 2015 terror attacks in Paris.

Prosecutors said Friday that the men, aged 29 and 31, were detained Tuesday following an investigation by French, Belgian and Dutch detectives. Computers, data carriers, documents and cell phones were seized from their homes.

Prosecutors say in a statement, "the suspicion against them is that they were involved in some way in delivering the weapons" used by Islamic extremists who killed 130 concertgoers at the Bataclan venue and other Paris sites on Nov. 13, 2015.

The 29-year-old suspect appeared before an investigating judge Friday who ordered him detained for two weeks. Prosecutors say the other suspect has been released for health reasons. Their identities were not released.

Source: Fox News World

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Wastewater – private equity’s new black gold in U.S. shale

A wastewater injection well is seen at a facility operated by On Point Energy in Big Spring
A wastewater injection well is seen at a facility operated by On Point Energy in Big Spring, Texas U.S. February 12, 2019. Picture taken February 12, 2019. REUTERS/Nick Oxford

March 18, 2019

By Jennifer Hiller

BIG SPRING, Texas (Reuters) – Mike Christensen strides among rows of gleaming steel tanks, pointing to pipelines that arrive from miles around to this corner of former farmland near Midland, Texas, the heart of the largest oil patch in the United States.

His company is one of dozens opening sites like this one that handles, not the lucrative oil, but the shale industry’s dirty secret: wastewater.

While U.S. oil production has reached record levels on account of the shale revolution of the last decade, much of the supporting infrastructure has failed to keep up, including how to transport the large quantities of water used in the hydraulic fracturing process and the water that is produced from wells alongside oil and gas.

Once managed individually by energy producers, the job of supplying, collecting and disposing of water is a rising cost, and has spawned a $34 billion a year business in the U.S. that has lured investors including TPG Capital, Blackstone Energy Partners LP and Ares Management Corp to back these firms.

Oil production in the Permian basin that spans West Texas and southeastern New Mexico is expected to rise to rise 35 percent to 5.4 million barrels of per day (bpd) by 2023, requiring even more water supply and disposal, said analysts. In two New Mexico counties, firms produced 505 million barrels of oil from 2016-2018, and five times that in water, a Reuters analysis of state production data showed.

“You can’t bring production online until you have a solution for the water,” said James Lee of Riveron Consulting.

There are 5,500 Permian wells to be drilled, requiring 2.75 billion barrels, or 115 billion gallons to complete, a Morgan Stanley report estimated.

While much of the water in the Permian is transported for high fees by trucks, which also exacerbate traffic congestion around production sites, midstream companies build and use pipelines which energy producers pay to utilize.

Christensen’s company, On Point Oilfield Holdings, owns a water disposal network that this year will take up to 375,000 bpd of wastewater. Some of that water will be recycled, but millions of gallons will eventually be sunk deep underground in West Texas. “Water was always an afterthought for producers,” said Christensen, who stretches him arm and draws a 360-degree arc to show the locations of lines carrying oilfield bilge to the site. “Now it’s a business plan in itself.”

Raising cash at a time when the industry is under pressure to restrain spending and improve returns has also fueled the trend, prompting some producers to cash in on their water projects.

In December, Hess Corp got $225 million for some of its water handling assets from a joint venture with Global Infrastructure Partners, while Halcon Resources received $200 million in cash and up to another $125 million over five years from WaterBridge Resources LLC for its water infrastructure assets.

“When capital discipline is higher on the priority list, it’s very attractive to monetize” water management assets, said Benjamin Shattuck, an analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

$14 BILLION WATER BILL AND RISING

The average frack job now consumes 13 million gallons (49 million liters), up 40 percent in two years, according to a Reuters analysis of Permian producers’ data reported to FracFocus.org.

That translates to water bills in the Permian Basin soaring 17 percent this year to $14 billion, according to consultancy IHS Markit, more than three times what North American producers spent last year on sand to frack their wells.

That lure is attracting investors who once viewed oil and gas as the prize.

TPG last week agreed to pay $930 million for a majority stake in Goodnight Midstream’s water pipeline network, which consists of more than 420 miles (670 km) in three U.S. shale basins.

Other private equity firms, including ARM Energy Holdings and Ares Management, have committed $4 billion to buy or start water management firms over the last four years, according researcher Global Water Intelligence. {nFWN1UM0IP]

Water management at this scale is in its infancy compared with the business of moving oil and gas by pipeline, but more private equity firms are looking for investments, said Jim Summers, chief executive of Houston-based water company H20 Midstream.

A FRACTION OF THE COST

Acquiring and disposing of water costs between 50 cents and $4 per barrel, depending on whether it moves by pipelines or more expensive trucks, and can be a steep cost for producers when oil dips as low as $40 a barrel in the Permian, as it did late last year.

The cost has inspired some companies to shift gears.

ARM Energy formed a company, Salt Creek Midstream, to gather oil and gas and was quickly pulled into offering water management, said CEO Zach Lee. By hiring Salt Creek, shale producer Lilis Energy expects its water disposal costs to fall to 48.5 cents per barrel from $2.

Not all producers, however, want to let go of their water management.

Diamondback Energy Inc is considering selling shares in a subsidiary that manages its water, oil and gas transport, but would retain control of the subsidiary.

“If I have to wait on somebody to get a pipeline built or a saltwater disposal system put in place, that is going to be a bad day. I need to be in control of that, not the other way around,” said Diamondback’s CEO Travis Stice.

Parsley Energy Inc spent $150 million to develop a water system that can handle up to 1 million bpd, which helped cut its wastewater costs by two-thirds, to 50 cents per barrel, CEO Matt Gallagher said.

“If you want to be a good shale operator you have to be excellent at water sourcing and management,” said Gallagher. Otherwise, “the whole operation could come to a screeching halt,” he said.

(GRAPHIC: U.S. finishes 2018 as world’s top crude oil producer as shale output scales new highs – https://tmsnrt.rs/2R69s7G)

(GRAPHIC: In top U.S. shale field, output per-well falls, even as overall production rises – https://tmsnrt.rs/2VFD6iI)

(GRAPHIC: Rising shale production turns the United States into energy exporter – https://tmsnrt.rs/2EUmNsT)

(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller; editing by Gary McWilliams and Marguerita Choy)

Source: OANN

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Germany’s Merkel welcomes beleaguered Ukrainian leader

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised the "very close relations" her country has built with Ukraine over recent years as she welcomed beleaguered President Petro Poroshenko to Berlin shortly before Ukrainian voters decide on their next leader.

Polls show Poroshenko trailing by a wide margin ahead of the April 21 runoff against comic actor and political novice Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Germany and France, which have led diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between Ukraine and Russia in recent years, are following the election closely.

French President Emmanuel Macron was set to meet Friday with both contenders, while Merkel received only Poroshenko.

At a joint news conference in Berlin, Merkel deflected a question about impressions that she favors Poroshenko. She said that she is in "permanent contact" with the incumbent.

Source: Fox News World

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New Cuban constitution gets 87 percent approval

Cuban authorities say a new constitution has been approved by nearly 87 percent of voters, a relatively low figure for a country where official proposals routinely receive higher than 90 percent approval.

The heads of Cuba's National Electoral Commission said 7,848,343 people voted Sunday on a new constitution that preserves the single-party socialist system and centrally planned economy while updating some financial, electoral and criminal laws.

Some 300,000 votes were counted as invalid because they were blank or defaced. And 706,400 people voted against the new constitution.

The commission said 6,816,169 people voted in favor of the new charter. The current constitution was approved by 97.7 percent of voters in a referendum in 1976, the peak of a system dedicated to displays of national unity.

Source: Fox News World

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An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.

The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.

The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo

April 26, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.

The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.

Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.

But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.

Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.

High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.

It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.

Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.

“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.

The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.

Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.

Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.

Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.

Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.

This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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The German share price index DAX graph at the stock exchange in Frankfurt
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

April 26, 2019

By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh

(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.

The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.

Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.

Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.

“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.

Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.

“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.

U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.

Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.

Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.

Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.

Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.

Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.

Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.

Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.

Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

By Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan

(Reuters) – The “i word” – impeachment – is swirling around the U.S. Congress since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report, which painted a picture of lies, threats and confusion in Donald Trump’s White House.

Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice.

Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.

WHAT ARE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT?

The U.S. Constitution says the president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Exactly what that means is unclear.

Before he became president in 1974, replacing Republican Richard Nixon who resigned over the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford said: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”

Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and author of a forthcoming book on the history of impeachment, said Congress could look beyond criminal laws in defining “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.

HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY OUT?

The term impeachment is often interpreted as simply removing a president from office, but that is not strictly accurate.

Impeachment technically refers to the 435-member House of Representatives approving formal charges against a president.

The House effectively acts as accuser – voting on whether to bring specific charges. An impeachment resolution, known as “articles of impeachment,” is like an indictment in a criminal case. A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach.

The Senate then conducts a trial. House members act as the prosecutors, with senators as the jurors. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president from office.

No president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of an impeachment and conviction by Congress.

Nixon quit in 1974 rather than face impeachment. Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were impeached by the House, but both stayed in office after the Senate acquitted them.

Obstruction of justice was one charge against Clinton, who faced allegations of lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obstruction was also included in the articles of impeachment against Nixon.

CAN THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN?

No.

Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But America’s founders explicitly rejected making a Senate conviction appealable to the federal judiciary, Bowman said.

“They quite plainly decided this is a political process and it is ultimately a political judgment,” Bowman said.

“So when Trump suggests there is any judicial remedy for impeachment, he is just wrong.”

PROOF OF WRONGDOING?

In a typical criminal court case, jurors are told to convict only if there is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a fairly stringent standard.

Impeachment proceedings are different. The House and Senate “can decide on whatever burden of proof they want,” Bowman said. “There is no agreement on what the burden should be.”

PARTY BREAKDOWN IN CONGRESS?

Right now, there are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the House. As a result, the Democratic majority could vote to impeach Trump without any Republican votes.

In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Clinton, a Democrat.

The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would requires 67 votes. So that means for Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.

WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT IF TRUMP IS REMOVED?

A Senate conviction removing Trump from office would elevate Vice President Mike Pence to the presidency to fill out Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

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New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes
FILE PHOTO: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France, June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s lawyers on Friday are set to ask a Florida judge to toss out hidden-camera videos that prosecutors say show the 77-year-old billionaire receiving sexual favors for money inside a Florida massage parlor.

The owner of the reigning Super Bowl champions plans wants the video to not be used as evidence against him as he contests two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Spa in Jupiter, Florida, along with some two dozen other men.

His legal team is fresh off a win on Tuesday, when they successfully persuaded Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser to block prosecutors from releasing the hidden-camera footage to media outlets, which had requested copies under the state’s robust open records law.

Kraft, who has owned the franchise since 1994, pleaded not guilty, but has issued a public apology for his actions.

His attorneys have argued in court papers that the surreptitious videotaping of customers, including Kraft, inside a massage parlor was governmental overreach and the result of an illegally obtained search warrant.

The warrant, Kraft’s lawyers claim, was secured under false pretenses because police officers cited human trafficking as a potential crime in their application. Prosecutors have since acknowledged that the investigation yielded no evidence of trafficking.

Palm Beach County prosecutors in a court filing on Wednesday said Kraft’s motion should be rejected because he could not have had any expectation of privacy while visiting a commercial establishment to engage in criminal activity.

That prompted an indignant response from Kraft’s attorneys, who said the prosecution’s position on privacy was “unhinged.”

“It should go without saying that Mr. Kraft and everyone else in the United States have a reasonable expectation that the government will not secretly spy on them while they undress behind closed doors,” they wrote.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, editing by G Crosse)

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