The Case Against Rick Pitino
In the scandalous trial, involving the alleged extortion of Louisville Basketball Coach Rick Pitino by his ex-lover Karen Sypher, the defense showed its strategy when star prosecution witness Pitino took the stand. The defense made it clear that Rick Pitino is a bad guy and he should get no sympathy from anyone or any juror for that matter.
The defense is seeking "jury nullification" to exonerate Sypher from her extortion charges. The evidence shows that she did it. She clearly was seeking hush money from Pitino to keep their 7 year old affair a secret. The evidence even shows that Sypher wrote an extortion letter to Pitino to get more hush payments.
So how can Sypher be found not guilty? Her defense plan is to simply portray Pitino as such an awful person that the jury should just let Sypher go free. The defense established during Pitino's testimony that Pitino had sex with Sypher in a restaurant while his cronies made sure the "cost was clear." After the married (with adult children) Pitino got Sypher pregnant, he arranged for her abortion and gave her some money to go away.
This conduct shows that Pitino is not exactly the "classy" coach that his image suggests but a typical sports figure with shallow ethics and bad judgment.
Under these unsavory circumstances, the Sypher defense team is hoping that the jurors will use their common sense and good judgment to give Sypher permission to "walk".
My name is Christopher Fusco. I am the managing partner of Callahan & Fusco, LLC with offices in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.