Tyson Is Given 6-Year Prison Term for Rape

INDIANAPOLIS —  Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight boxing champion, was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday for raping a teen-age beauty contestant, his protests of innocence rejected by a judge who said she believes he could rape again.

Superior Court Judge Patricia J. Gifford sentenced Tyson to 10 years apiece for one count of rape and two counts of criminal deviate conduct, then suspended four years from each term, which will run concurrently. This means that even with time deducted for good behavior, he will serve a minimum of two to three years in an Indiana state prison.

“Something needs to be done about the attitude you displayed here,” Gifford said.

Tyson, who was also denied bail pending his appeal, showed no emotion at the sentencing, removing his watch and handing it to one of his attorneys, Vincent Fuller. Then he kissed his 81-year-old foster mother, Camille Ewald, goodby.

He was taken to the police wing on the fifth floor of the Marion County Courthouse for preliminary processing, then was driven to the Indiana Regional Diagnostic Center at Plainfield, Ind., 17 miles west of Indianapolis. There, Tyson will undergo orientation for a period of several weeks before being assigned to a prison by the state’s Department of Corrections.

Gifford also sentenced Tyson to a four-year probation period after his release from prison and fined him $10,000 for each of the three counts. She rejected a motion by prosecutors to fine Tyson an additional $150,047, to recover the cost of the trial.

Tyson’s legal team lost twice in separate pleas to Gifford on Thursday. First, chief counsel Fuller asked the judge to allow Tyson to serve his sentence at an Indianapolis halfway house, the Riverside Community Corrections Corp. Second, the legal team asked her to allow the boxer to remain free on bond while awaiting the outcome of his appeal.

She refused bond, saying directly to Tyson: “I am going to deny your petition for bail, owing to the seriousness of the crime. As to whether you are at risk to commit a crime again, quite honestly I feel you are.”

Tyson, dressed in a gray suit, white shirt and pattern tie, was then led away by five sheriff’s officers through a rear door.

Defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz immediately appealed the bail denial. A three-judge appeals panel set a hearing for today on that issue after Chief Appellate Judge Wesley Ratliff denied a request for an immediate stay.

The setting Thursday morning was similar to that throughout the three-week trial, which culminated in his conviction Feb. 10 on the felony rape and criminal deviate conduct charges.

The courthouse lobby was filled with hundreds of spectators and media representatives when Tyson arrived at 8:55 a.m. Across the street, which was closed to traffic, protesters demonstrated, waving placards reading: “We Demand a Fair Trial” and “You Don’t Go Out With Strangers at 2 a.m.”

A minute or two after sentencing, at 11:45 a.m., two of the 17 spectators broke the silence in the courtroom. A man said loudly: “Mike, we still love you.” A woman broke into tears when she tried to shout the same remark.

Tyson, 25, who was convicted of raping Desiree Washington in Indianapolis last July 19, spoke in a rambling manner for 12 minutes before Gifford passed sentence. He apologized for things he said and for his behavior at the Indiana Black Expo, but denied again that he had raped Washington.

“I didn’t hurt anybody--no black eyes, no broken ribs,” he said.

” . . . My conduct when I came to Indianapolis was sort of crass, and for that I apologize. But I was made out to be (during the trial) a maniac kind of guy, like a Charles Manson, and that (isn’t true). I got carried away, I got out of hand.

“I have been hurt, crucified and humiliated by this, worldwide. My daughter will have to grow up in shame over this, and I’m devastated. I am not guilty of this crime. It’s like one big dream, it’s not real.

“I am not begging for mercy, but I expect the worst. I am prepared, ma’am, to deal with whatever you have to offer me. Thank you.”

Before sentencing, Fuller pleaded forcefully to Gifford to remand Tyson to the downtown Indianapolis Riverside facility, a nonprofit but private correctional institution.

Fuller referred to “thousands of letters” sent to the judge describing Tyson as a “sensitive, thoughtful, caring man.”

Then Fuller told Gifford that it was a judge who once put Tyson on a path to the heavyweight championship.

“His early life was troubled and he began to acquire a juvenile record when he was 8,” Fuller said. “But at 12, by the grace of God, a judge in Brooklyn had the wisdom to send him to (Tryon Reformatory in) Upstate New York, where he met a man named Bobby Stewart, who taught him to box.”

Tyson never acquired sufficient education or social traits in his childhood, Fuller said, because he was guided by a man, the late Cus D’Amato, whose only focus for Tyson was boxing.

“It is regrettable,” Fuller added, “that Mr. Tyson grew up in a world without an appreciation of how to comport himself.”

Fuller added: “Your honor, to incarcerate Mr. Tyson in a prison would be to repeat a portion of his life he has already lived. This case cries out for a resolution other than remanding Mr. Tyson to prison. It serves no one’s interests to put him in prison.”

Tyson then spoke to Gifford, and the judge followed with several questions, asking Tyson if he perceived himself as a role model for young people.

“Absolutely,” Tyson answered. “But kids should look at their own parents as role models, not athletes.”

Marion County prosecutor Jeffrey Modisett rebutted Fuller, and also referred to letters sent to his office and to Gifford, asking for leniency.

“The evidence in this case flies in the face of what we see in these letters,” Modisett said. “Desiree Washington believed Mike Tyson to be a nice person, she trusted him--to her everlasting regret. A prison sentence here is required because it is appropriate.”

Modisett then read from a letter from Washington: “‘In the place of what has been me for the last 18 years is a cold and empty place. . . . Desiree Washington was stolen from me on July 19, 1991.”

Greg Garrison, the lead prosecutor during the trial, also urged Gifford to levy a prison sentence, saying: “ . . . He has shown an ongoing pattern of misbehavior toward women. He disarmed this woman and, in a skilled and practiced manner, raped her.”

Gifford, too, referred to the letter-writing campaign, saying: “Most of the letters were written by people who don’t even know Mr. Tyson, so I am not considering them.”

Afterward, Garrison talked about the sentence.

“Let’s be clear,” he said, “the sentence is 10 years, not six. If he doesn’t behave himself, he will do six years . . . or the whole 10. So, she didn’t exactly throw the keys at him and say, ‘Have a good time.’ ”

The question of Tyson’s security in prison came up.

“I’d be concerned if they put him in a place where he had no security,” Garrison said, “but James Akin (the director of the Indiana Department of Corrections) is aware of his situation and has given it a lot of thought.”

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