Sentencing delay denied in Facebook coercion case

Waukesha - Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis has denied a last-minute request to delay Wednesday's sentencing of Anthony Stancl, the New Berlin teen who coerced sex from schoolmates by blackmailing them with naked pictures they sent him after he posed as a girl on Facebook.

Stancl's attorney, Craig M. Kuhary, asked for a delay until at least next week, saying Stancl's paternal grandmother died unexpectedly Tuesday and his family would be making arrangements today for a Saturday funeral.

Davis noted that he had no good opening on the court schedule for weeks, and that there were so many people to notify if the sentencing hearing was adjourned.

In previous letters to the court, Kuhary had asked permission for Stancl to attend his grandfather's funeral in October and to visit a cousin with terminal brain cancer. Both requests were approved.

Stancl, 19, was initially charged with a dozen felonies but entered a plea of no contest to two - repeated sexual assault of the same child and third-degree sexual assault. In exchange, the 10 other felony counts were dismissed but can be considered in sentencing. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.