Getting Laid and/or Getting Paid

Aug 06 2010


(AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

Karen Cunagin Sypher, center, smiles as she leaves the federal courthouse with two unidentified women in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010. Sypher was convicted of extortion for demanding millions of dollars from Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino to keep their tryst at a restaurant secret.

During the trial there was no testimony about what the pair had eaten before they had sex nor where the sex took place, on a dining table, on the floor or in the kitchen.

Several witnesses testified during Sypher's trial that she traded sexual favors to enlist several people to help her extort Pitino. Her ex-husband, longtime Pitino aide Tim Sypher, also testified against her. He said he wasn't angry or bitter that his boss had sex with his wife. He testified that Pitino was the boss and you were expected to roll over for the boss.

Sypher's lawyer, named Earhart, didn't put any witnesses on the stand in Ms. Sypher's defense, which was fatal for her case, but jurors heard Sypher's words via videotaped interviews with two Louisville television stations and a police interview.

Sypher said she rejected several plea agreements before trial that would have allowed her to avoid prison.

"That would mean I was guilty," she said. "I can honestly say I've never felt so calm in my life, because I finally was allowed to speak after being duct-taped over my mouth for so many years."

Sypher has contended that Pitino was the aggressor and she felt forced to have sex with the famous coach because she feared for her husband's job.

Meanwhile, back in Louisville-La La Land, university officials said Pitino was not disciplined because the sex did not take place on university property. Speaking on condition of paternity, a Louisville member of the athletic program and athletic supporter, pointed out that Pitino was the winningest coach in the university's history and that he brought in mega millions in alumni donations and was too good at raising money to be disciplined. He said sometimes you just had to balance the good against the bad and that Pitino had done much more for the university and the state to be disciplined for a small peccadillo with a low-life woman who was no better than a common hooker.

___

Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com