Tyson dodges 10 counts in sexual assault cases

Jeff German and Keith Paul

Friday, Feb. 22, 2002 | 10:55 a.m.

Metro Police sought 10 counts of sexual assault against Mike Tyson accusing the former boxing champion of attacking two women, who both say Tyson overpowered them at his Las Vegas home, according to police reports obtained by the Sun.

Clark County prosectors Thursday told police that charges would not be filed against Tyson because "it was simply unclear whether the sexual interaction between each of the two alleged victims and Mr. Tyson was consensual or force. In each case it could have been either."

Undersheriff Richard Winget said police "obviously" were disappointed with Bell's decision but accepted it.

"We believe the investigation showed that a crime was committed and that Tyson committed it," Winget said. "We felt the victim deserved a chance to have her case heard in court, but I understand (Bell) only has limited resources, and he has to determine how to best use those resources."

Tyson's attorneys praised the decision.

"We are very pleased that the Clark County District Attorney's Office did an independent investigation and agreed to review the case fairly rather than be controlled by pressures from the media and the conclusions of the police," Darrow Soll, one of Tyson's Phoenix-based attorneys, said.

"People should believe that this was a complete and thorough investigation because if Stewart Bell's office thought they could get a conviction, they would have. They're some of the most skilled prosecutors in the country." Police affidavits filed in the matter show parts of the police case and why prosecutors felt it would have been difficult to prosecute. Typically, sexual assault cases can be difficult to take to court especially when the people know each other and have had a relationship. The evidence, then, can fit either proof of a consensual relationship or of a date-rape or relationship-rape crime.

In Tyson's cases, both women knew him -- one was in a dating relationship, the other worked with Tyson and had smoked marijuana with him before the alleged assault, according to the reports.

"There's no question that Mr. Tyson and the alleged victims had sexual relations," Bell told the Sun. "The issue is: Was it forced or consensual? And the answer is we couldn't tell. And so it was clear we couldn't prove it was forced beyond a reasonable doubt.

"We're not saying it didn't happen. We're not saying it did. We just couldn't tell."

One woman, a then-19-year-old out-of-state college student who worked for Iron Mike Enterprises, told Metro detectives when she returned home to report the assault to her local police, an officer dissuaded her from pressing charges in November 2000. In December last year, she called Metro to press charges after an attorney told her it was too late to file a civil suit, according to the report.

In the other case, a 23-year-old Las Vegas woman told detectives -- and Tyson agreed -- she had an ongoing relationship with the boxer for several months. But she said one night he forced himself on her twice over a 24-hour period on Sept. 19 and 20.

Both women say Tyson forced himself upon them, and they both say they couldn't escape.

The 23-year-old woman told police that after the incident she "asked Mike if she could go home and Mike said, 'No.' Mike told (her) she had everything she needed, there was no need for her to go home," according to the police report.

She was allowed to leave on Sept. 20 and went to the University Medical Center on Sept. 21. Hospital staff called Metro detectives.

The woman called her mother crying before going to the hospital saying Tyson hurt her. When pressed for an explanation, she told her mother "Mike raped me," according to the report.

At one point, she said she found herself alone at the house, but said she was unable to leave because she could not open the electronic gate, according to the report. Tyson's home is surrounded by a 12-foot-high wall.

When asked why she didn't just call the police. She said "she had heard that if Mike found a woman calling 911 from his residence, he would become violent," according to the report.

The woman said Tyson assaulted her again on Sept. 20. She screamed for him to stop, but he didn't. She stopped yelling because "Mike was going to so what he wanted."

Later that day Tyson had one of his employees driver her home.

Tyson briefly spoke with detectives during the Sept. 26 search of his home, but then said he wanted to talk with his lawyer first. During a search detective found video tapes show Tyson having sex with numerous women.

Detectives also spoke with several of Tyson employees including adviser Shelly Finkel who said he was with Tyson during those days in September and didn't Tyson do anything that would lead him to believe that anything out of the ordinary had occurred.

"Mr. Finkel felt the reason for (the woman) to make such allegations was that she was motivated by monetary gain," according to the report.

Detectives interviewed two Tyson employees in front of Tyson's attorney and two other attorneys and a private investigator. Both men stated they were at Tyson's house on Sept 19 and 20, saw the woman and didn't see any signs that she was in distress, according to the statement.

A few months after the woman's allegation surfaced, a 19-year-old college student, who had worked for Tyson, called Metro detectives saying she was sexually assaulted several times by Tyson in on Nov. 23, 2000, through Nov. 25, 2000, at his home.

She had been acquainted with Tyson through his business and stayed at his home previously.

She told detectives an officer at a police department in a small southwestern Michigan town, where she was going to college, initially dissuaded her from pressing charges.

She said the officer told her "that she should get on with her life and get some counseling to help her deal with the situation," according to the report. "(The) officer also suggested that (she) not attempt to press charged against Mike Tyson because he was to much of (a) celebrity ... and go on with her life to avoid the possible trauma from the media."