Crackpot sexpot Karen Sypher reportedly said today that she didn’t get a fair trial because Louisville is a small town and hoops coach Rick Pitino is too powerful.
“I knew that I couldn’t get a fair trial here to begin with, but I tried one more time to believe in the justice system,” Sypher told The Lousiville Courier-Journal in a telephone interview a day after a jury found her guilty of extorting money from Pitino.
“I know now there is no justice system. There is no justice. … This was a 1700s witch trial from the very moment I was raped,” she added.
Sypher told the newspaper she “absolutely” wanted to testify at the trial, but chose not to at the urging of her lawyers.
In cringe-worthy testimony last week, Pitino told jurors their illicit fling in a Louisville Italian restaurant lasted just “15 seconds.”
On Thursday, Pitino’s attorney, former Kentucky Lt. Gov. Steve Pence, said, “The jury did the right thing.”
The jury, which deliberated for five hours starting Wednesday afternoon, did not have much trouble reaching a decision, foreman Glen Elder said. There were no sticking points, he said.
As prosecutors left the courtroom, Jacob Wise, Sypher’s 20-year-old son, said sarcastically, “Thanks for taking my mother away, guys,” and clapped his hands.
Sypher, who is free until her October sentencing, left with her lawyer and son without making a comment. She’s expected to get closer to seven years in prison.
Defense lawyer James Earhart argued that the government’s case proved that “rules don’t apply to the privileged” like Pitino, who was the star witness.
Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich said the trial had been rough on Pitino.
“She was on a mission to get him,” he said. “It’s been very taxing because he loves his family. He knows he let them down that night.”
The trial brings to an end a long, embarrassing episode for the Louisville coach, which began when the two met in 2003 at Porcini, an Italian restaurant owned by a friend.
On the stand, Pitino told the jury he was at the end of the bar when she approached him with her cellphone, asking him to wish her son a happy birthday.
He obliged. Then, she started flirting with him and rubbing his leg, he testified last week.
At the end of the night, she suggested they move to a booth to finish their wine.
“Some unfortunate things happened,” he said. “She opened up my pants.”
Their encounter lasted only “15 seconds,” Pitino said.
“She said to me that she is extremely fertile. She said her husband had looked at her four times and that she got pregnant,” he said.
Hearing this, Pitino said, he “immediately pulled out.”
With AP