09-30-2003, 11:43 PM
Man who allegedly had sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral dies of heart attack
By SAMUEL MAULL
Associated Press Writer
September 30, 2003, 5:50 PM EDT
NEW YORK -- A man who was to appear in court Tuesday on charges of having sex with his girlfriend inside St. Patrick's Cathedral as part of a radio show stunt has died at his home in Virginia.
Brian Florence, 38, died Sept. 25 of a heart attack in Alexandria, said the couple's lawyer, Maranda Fritz. She said the funeral was Monday, and his co-defendant and girlfriend, Loretta Lynn Harper, 36, is "still in a state of shock."
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Barbara Jaffe adjourned the case until Nov. 6 after Fritz told her Florence had died.
The lawyer said her clients had expected to plead guilty to a minor charge and receive a nonjail sentence.
A third man involved in the sexcapade, radio producer Paul Mercurio, 43, pleaded guilty earlier in the day to disorderly conduct. The judge ordered him to perform seven days of community service with a group that delivers meals to AIDS patients.
Florence and Harper were arrested Aug. 15, 2002, for allegedly having sex inside St. Patrick's after a mid-Manhattan public sex odyssey that had gone on for at least three hours, according to a misdemeanor complaint filed at their arraignment.
The complaint did not list all the sex stops the couple allegedly made, but police said after the arrest that they included a Disney store, the F.A.O. Schwarz toy store, the Carnegie Deli, an ATM vestibule, the back seat of a taxi and a hotel lobby.
The complaint said Officer William Smith, of the Midtown North Precinct, was listening to the "Opie and Anthony Show" when he heard Mercurio say on the air that he was speaking on a cell phone while watching the couple in action in the cathedral.
About 5 p.m., the complaint said, Smith arrested the couple after they had sex in a vestibule just a few feet from worshippers. The incident had been part of a regular feature in which couples could win prizes for having sex in public places.
Mercurio read a statement in court saying he was instructed to take one of the couples who participated in the show to some of the public locations chosen by the staff so they could engage in actual or simulated sexual conduct that he would describe over the radio.
"Upon entering the cathedral, I led Ms. Harper and Mr. Florence to a vestibule located toward the front of the cathedral," Mercurio said. "I then proceeded to broadcast their simulated actions live over the air, despite the fact that there were parishioners present in the cathedral."
Mercurio said he had apologized to church officials for what happened and was apologizing publicly in court.
The couple's alleged antics inside the landmark midtown Manhattan cathedral resulted in WNEW-FM, the station on which the show aired, firing the two DJs, Greg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia.
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press
By SAMUEL MAULL
Associated Press Writer
September 30, 2003, 5:50 PM EDT
NEW YORK -- A man who was to appear in court Tuesday on charges of having sex with his girlfriend inside St. Patrick's Cathedral as part of a radio show stunt has died at his home in Virginia.
Brian Florence, 38, died Sept. 25 of a heart attack in Alexandria, said the couple's lawyer, Maranda Fritz. She said the funeral was Monday, and his co-defendant and girlfriend, Loretta Lynn Harper, 36, is "still in a state of shock."
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Barbara Jaffe adjourned the case until Nov. 6 after Fritz told her Florence had died.
The lawyer said her clients had expected to plead guilty to a minor charge and receive a nonjail sentence.
A third man involved in the sexcapade, radio producer Paul Mercurio, 43, pleaded guilty earlier in the day to disorderly conduct. The judge ordered him to perform seven days of community service with a group that delivers meals to AIDS patients.
Florence and Harper were arrested Aug. 15, 2002, for allegedly having sex inside St. Patrick's after a mid-Manhattan public sex odyssey that had gone on for at least three hours, according to a misdemeanor complaint filed at their arraignment.
The complaint did not list all the sex stops the couple allegedly made, but police said after the arrest that they included a Disney store, the F.A.O. Schwarz toy store, the Carnegie Deli, an ATM vestibule, the back seat of a taxi and a hotel lobby.
The complaint said Officer William Smith, of the Midtown North Precinct, was listening to the "Opie and Anthony Show" when he heard Mercurio say on the air that he was speaking on a cell phone while watching the couple in action in the cathedral.
About 5 p.m., the complaint said, Smith arrested the couple after they had sex in a vestibule just a few feet from worshippers. The incident had been part of a regular feature in which couples could win prizes for having sex in public places.
Mercurio read a statement in court saying he was instructed to take one of the couples who participated in the show to some of the public locations chosen by the staff so they could engage in actual or simulated sexual conduct that he would describe over the radio.
"Upon entering the cathedral, I led Ms. Harper and Mr. Florence to a vestibule located toward the front of the cathedral," Mercurio said. "I then proceeded to broadcast their simulated actions live over the air, despite the fact that there were parishioners present in the cathedral."
Mercurio said he had apologized to church officials for what happened and was apologizing publicly in court.
The couple's alleged antics inside the landmark midtown Manhattan cathedral resulted in WNEW-FM, the station on which the show aired, firing the two DJs, Greg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia.
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press
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