Sypher Lawyer Seeks Delay In Pitino Extortion Trial

Sypher lawyer seeks delay in Rick Pitino extortion trial

By Harold J. Adams • The Courier-Journal • April 25, 2010

The attorney for Karen Cunagin Sypher, the woman accused of attempting to extort money from University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino, has asked for a delay in her trial, which is scheduled to begin June 1.

Attorney James Earhart filed a motion Friday asking U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson III to push the trial back to “no sooner than” July 1. Earhart said in the motion that he needs more time to review discovery information provided by the prosecution.

Jury selection is scheduled to done May 19-20, if the trial is to start on June 1.

In a filing earlier in April, Earhart filed a motion seeking a change of venue for the trial to Bowling Green or Owensboro.

In his motion, filed April 9, Earhart contends that Pitino’s prominence and Louisvillians’ loyalty to the university would make it difficult to find impartial jurors.

And even if Louisville jurors say they have no bias or opinion about the case, Earhart argues, “Those claims of impartiality may not be believable.”

Opposing Sypher's request to move her extortion trial out of Louisville because of pretrial publicity, a federal prosecutor subsequently said that information on the case would be equally available to people over the Internet whether they are in “Bowling Green, Owensboro or Timbuktu.”

Sypher, the estranged wife of the UofL basketball team’s equipment manager, is charged in a six-count indictment with trying to extort money and cars from Pitino in exchange for her silence on allegations that they had sex in 2003 at a Louisville restaurant.

She also is accused of lying to the FBI and is charged with another count of extortion for allegedly having her divorce lawyer, Dana Kolter, send a letter to Pitino demanding $10 million in exchange for her silence “on allegations of a criminal nature.”

Pitino has admitted that he had sex with Sypher once in 2003 and that he paid her money so she could buy health insurance because she said she couldn't afford an abortion.

But he has denied her allegations that he raped her. Jefferson Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel decided against prosecuting the case, saying her claims were “void of credibility.”