Jay-Z's attorney says there are a bunch of holes in the rape lawsuit against the rapper ... and he's looking to have the case thrown out.
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00:00Jay-Z is gunning to get this rape lawsuit that was filed against him dismissed, and
00:09he has multiple reasons for doing it.
00:11You know that a woman claims when she was 13 years old Jay-Z raped her.
00:18That's the allegation.
00:19He just vigorously denies this and says it is not true.
00:26This has hurt him and his family, and he has vowed to fight this and win.
00:31Well, his lawyer, Alex Spiro, you may remember Alex who got the case against Alec Baldwin
00:38dismissed in the Russ shooting, Alex Spiro is representing Jay-Z, has for a long time.
00:44He now has a game plan to get this case dismissed, at least if he has his way.
00:51And it starts with a law that was passed that would allow somebody under these circumstances
00:57to file a lawsuit.
01:00He is saying, Alex Spiro, that the law only applies to New York City.
01:07And also the law was passed after this alleged rape would have occurred.
01:13Again, he denies the rape occurred, but based on the date the woman claims it happened,
01:19it happened before this law was passed.
01:23And in America, you can't prosecute somebody for a crime that wasn't a crime when they
01:31allegedly committed it.
01:34Ex post facto.
01:35Listen to you.
01:36And statute of limitations.
01:37He's a lawyer.
01:38And if you're the lawyer, you've got to make those arguments.
01:40And they're making it.
01:42But it doesn't stop there.
01:44According to this, what we know Alex Spiro is going to do, he's saying that forgetting
01:51about that part, the law would only cover New York City.
01:56And when you look at her complaint and what she's alleging, what Jay-Z is saying through
02:03Alex Spiro is that couldn't have taken place in the city.
02:08And therefore, if it happened outside the boundaries of New York City, even if it happened,
02:13which he said it didn't, you can't use the law to prosecute him.
02:16Yes.
02:17This is a very strange law in that it was passed by a municipality, not by a state or
02:20obviously by the federal government.
02:21It was passed just within New York City.
02:23And to the point you were making earlier, it only relates to cases, according to Alex
02:27Spiro, that occur after the law was passed in December of 2000.
02:33The allegations here are that it happened at a large white house with a U-shaped driveway,
02:38which Jay-Z is arguing, Alex Spiro is arguing, couldn't have been in New York City.
02:42And that it allegedly happened months before the law went into effect in December 2020.
02:47So on those two grounds are saying, we're going to file a motion to dismiss.
02:50We expect the court to dismiss it.
02:52I got to say, Jason, if he's right on that, I mean, there might be something to it.
02:58But I don't, I don't think you dismiss the, I don't think you dismiss it now, though.
03:01I think that's an argument that you make in court as to where it happened.
03:05Well, they're going to be in court.
03:06I mean, I think you make it before there's a trial.
03:09If you're saying that he shouldn't be prosecuted, I think those are facts that would be hashed
03:12out at trial because you have to depose people.
03:14You have to do discovery as opposed to dismissing.
03:17Not if the law doesn't apply.
03:19In other words, I agree.
03:20I'm saying location.
03:21I'm saying location.
03:22Yes.
03:23But if the law doesn't apply, it seems to me you do it now, right?
03:26Yeah.
03:27I'm really with attorney Oppenheim here because that's a very good point that the issue they
03:31want to file a motion to dismiss and the issue of whether or not it was in New York City
03:34or not is something that requires fact discovery and that cannot be decided at the early stages
03:40of the trial.
03:41All the way through summary judgment, which could take months or even longer.
03:46That's true.
03:47That's true.
03:48So there's an issue here.
03:49Yeah.
03:50That's true with respect to where it is.
03:51But the timing of it, if the law wasn't in effect when she says this happened, that can
03:57go before a judge right now.
03:59And if the judge says you're right, I think it gets dismissed.
04:03Yeah.
04:04It would definitely get dismissed if that was the case.
04:06Obviously, we need to see how that plays out and what Tony Busby, the attorney for the
04:10accuser, what he says in response to this.
04:13Well, my understanding is Busby said, well, these are technicalities, but they're really
04:18not technicalities.
04:19Well, and the law is technicalities too.
04:20Right.
04:21I mean, that's the law.
04:22And if they're right about this, I don't know, Jason, I don't see the rebuttal on it.
04:28There is no rebuttal.
04:29Yeah.
04:30I agree.
04:31I don't know what his argument is going to be, but the last refuge of a lawyer is to
04:33say, well, it's all technicalities.
04:35Technicalities, everything is a technicality.
04:36You win and lose cases on technicalities.
04:38So if the law is what it is, they're going to lose.
04:41Hi, I'm Kimberly from Florida.
04:44Hi.
04:45I genuinely don't believe that if someone is telling the truth, that they should be
04:51looking for loopholes, whether it was two days ago or 20 years ago.
04:58The truth should matter, whether it be a statute of limitations.
05:02However, I do believe that Jay-Z's lawyers are working so hard because they genuinely
05:08believe him.
05:09At this point, his public image is ruined.
05:12His career is stained forever.
05:14And I think they should be working this hard to clear his name.
05:18I'm not a lawyer, but I just don't trust Busbee or anything he does.
05:23I just don't know how legitimate Busbee is.
05:26I want to ask you something, because the first point you made.
05:30If you were on the freeway and the speed limit was 65 miles an hour and you were driving
05:36at 65, and then a month later the law changes and it says you can only go 55, and then
05:44all of a sudden they give you a ticket, even though you knew that the speed limit was 65
05:49when you were driving.
05:50Do you think that's fair?
05:51No, not at all.
05:54Then it's the same thing as what Jay-Z is arguing, which is there was no law making
06:02whatever it was a crime a crime when this supposedly happened.
06:05I agree with her on a moral level, but from a legal perspective, I agree with you on that analogy.
06:12And that's the law.