Judges in Pitino Extortion Appeal Named

A three-judge federal appeals panel including one jurist from Louisville will hear an appeal from a woman convicted of trying to extort University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday named judges Boyce F. Martin of Louisville, Martha Craig Daughtrey of Nashville, TN, and Paul Maloney of Kalamazoo, MI, to hear the appeal of Karen Sypher in Cincinnati on May 31.

In 2010, a jury convicted THE 52-year-old Sypher of extortion, lying to the FBI and retaliation against a witness. Prosecutors said she sought millions in cash, cars and a house from Pitino to stay quiet about a tryst in a Louisville restaurant. She is serving a seven-year sentence at a federal prison.