The second week of the trial of Karen Sypher, accused of extorting money and other things of value from Rick Pitino kicked off with some “kiss and tell” testimony.

An ex-husband and two ex-lovers, one of whom was Sypher’s attorney prior to her indictment in April 2009, gave testimony that could seriously derail her defense, according to Louisville’s courier-journal.com and the Lexington Herald Leader.

Sypher and Pitino had one night of sex in 2003, out of which came Sypher’s allegations of rape and subsequent alleged attempts at extortion for her silence about the University of Louisville men’s basketball coach.

Rick Pitino on the stand: sex with Sypher was brief and unfortunate

The saddest testimony came from her former lawyer, Dana R. Kolter who took his client’s word about the rape allegations and sought to work out a settlement with Pitino in order to avoid filing a civil lawsuit against him.

Kolter who crossed ethical boundaries by having sex with a client while representing her, said the suit he threatened to bring might not have been allowed by a court.

“I don’t know if I would have won that argument,” said Kolter on the stand Monday. He also testified that he tried to get her psychological counseling, because he thought, “…her eggs were scrambled.”

Tim Sypher calls ex-wife’s rape allegations, “craziness”

Another lover took the stand on Monday and told the jury that within days of her being charged with extortion, he met with Karen Sypher to ask about the situation.

Tyree Fields, a former basketball talent scout met Sypher in 2008 at which time they began an affair. She was still marreid to her latest ex-husband, Tim Sypher in 2008.

By the spring of 2009 they were merely friends and Fields’ testimony on Monday indicated Sypher knew what she had done. “Her response to me was that it was stupid, I shouldn’t have done it,” said Fields on the stand.

Rick Wise, a two-time ex-husband of Sypher’s (they divorced in 1984, remarried in 1986 and divorced again in 2002) testified on Monday. According to Wise, he declined to meet with her to discuss her money demands from Pitino prior to her arrest.

He told the court that once Karen was arrested, he suggested she take a plea deal to which she told him, ““If I am going down, I am going to take Pitino with me.’”

Testimony resumes on Tuesday.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

This week is the anniversary of the famous NFL cheerleader’s sex arrest that occurred three years ago in a Tampa bar.

TAMPA – In one of the most appreciated arrests in sports history, two NFL Carolina Panther cheerleaders were cuffed, mugged and accused of having lesbian sex in a public bathroom.

Does it get any better than that !

The incident happened back in November ’05 in a Tampa bar called Banana Joe’s and the girls were booked with a laundry list of charges including resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, assault, giving a false name and causing harm to another; a third-degree felony punishable by 1 to 5 years.

Renee Thomas of Pittsboro, NC and Angela Keathley of Belmont, NC were hanging out and slammin’ drinks at Joe’s when they took a stroll to the bathroom together like all women do.

According to a Tampa Police Report and witnesses, a gang of local Tampa ho’s got pissed off at the sexy couple for frolicking a little bit too long in the stall.

Hearing moaning coming from the closed stall, the gang started calling the pom-pom girls “whores” and “bitches” and later reported one of the girls were “going down on the other” right there in the stall.

After exiting their private quarters, one of the pom-pomers slugged one of the whining bitches, triggering a cat-fight melee.

Later, the Tampa cops showed up and Thomas resisted arrest; guess she didn’t want to be cuffed, not with metal ones that hurt anyway.

Both women ate jail food the next morning before posting out and being released. (see them in our Sports Mugshots and Cheerleader Gallery)

Keathley and Thomas were both booted off the cheer squad for violating a cheerleader code that “bans conduct embarrassing to the team or organization” and were immediately approached by Penthouse Magazine to do a spread and story.

This story generated so much interest nationwide that the Panthers NFL site crashed after receiving millions of hits.

On the Panthers Cheerleader site, both cheerleaders had listed the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation as their favorite charity. Maybe they were giving each other complimentary breast exams and this whole thing was a misunderstanding.

Both girls did plea out with Thomas being sentenced to 12 months probation, 50 hours of community service, and ordered to pay $400 restitution. She was also ordered to attend an anger management class and was barred from financially benefiting from the incident.

Keathley also copped a plea and was sentenced to probation.

All this time us guys thought you girls went to the john together to gossip!

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax