Mike Tyson and His Conviction of Rape!

July 1991 – The world has been shock not because of any natural phenomenon occurred but because one of the most renowned pillar of the society particularly and specially the boxing industry had been arrested. Mike Tyson was involved in a sexual assault raised by an 18 year old beauty pageant aspirant from Black Rhode Island named Desiree Washington. The charged rape trial was held in a courthouse located in Indianapolis and run from January 26 1992 to February 10, 1992 under the supervision of Judge Patricia J. Gifford.

The Complainant’s Story!

Desiree Washington, the complainant claimed that she had accepted a call from Mike Tyson in the early morning of 19th of July 1991. Tyson allegedly invited Washington for a certain party and because she has trust in Tyson, She went out to accompany him. Washington claimed that even while inside Tyson’s limousine while transporting to the “party”, he already made sexual harassments towards her. And when they arrived in the hotel room where Tyson lives and supposed to be the venue of the “party”, Tyson forced her to have sex with him and never stopped even while she was screaming at Tyson to stop. After the alleged rape, she ran out of the room and requested Tyson’s chauffer to bring her back to her own hotel room.

The Defense!

It was the defense lawyer who argued all the testimonies of Washington, first argument, the complainant was an intelligent and smart young woman who is so impossible not to know what could possibly happen if she allowed someone to bring her inside a guy’s limousine transporting to his own hotel room in the not so ordinary hour of the day. It was actually an insult to anyone’s intelligence being so dumb not to know that fact according to Tyson’s lawyer Vincent J. Fuller.

As per Fuller, what really happened during that morning in the hotel room where Tyson brought Washington was that the two of them just had a conversation that led to foreplay like necking and kissing but Tyson decided to stop and have some sleep. This is why Washington got offended by the behavior of Tyson and by the thought of being just a “one night stand” fling of Tyson made her decide to file charges of rape against Tyson. Fuller added that the complainant had her sufficient time and opportunity to walk away and leave Tyson when she felt she was already harassed by the latter’s action.

Even when they are still in the limousine, Washington can actually cancel the date and walk away going back to her own hotel room if she really thought that Tyson is already making sexual advances towards her but instead, she still went on to the hotel room with Tyson and to his bed for that matter. That is the argument raised by Fuller, Tyson’s lawyer.

During the defense’s hot seat questioning to Tyson, the boxer claimed that what happened to him and to the beauty contest aspirant was their both decision, meaning he did not force the girl to do it with him and Washington had all her consent for Tyson to do it to her.

During the cross examination by the complainant’s lawyer Gregory Garrison to Tyson, the plaintiff denied the accusations of forcing Washington to go to bed with him, instead she was the one who was eager to have sex with him and he just gave her what she wanted.

The Rebuttal!

Lead prosecutor J. Gregory Garrison rebuts all the “false premises” that the defense had claimed. First, the lawyer answered the “questioned intelligence” of the complainant. According to him, washing was just overwhelmed and star-strucked by the invitation of Tyson that is why she fully trusted the attacker. Garrison also mentioned one famous line that was already used in a previous case that "Date rape is not half a crime; it is a violent crime against a woman -- a crime that every man must recognize and do everything he can to prevent."

Garrison mocked the claim of the defense that it was Washington who really wanted the date and she wanted to have sex with Tyson. He mentioned that during the invitation, the complainant really wanted to cancel it for another day because she was already in bed. But Tyson insisted as he would leave the other day.

And lastly, the rebuttal of the prosecutor was based on the defense’s claim that the accuser got offended after what had happened. Garrison stated that if Washington really wanted to get involved with Tyson, she should not file charges, instead would thank Tyson for making her dream came to reality.

The Witnesses’ Testimony!

Tyson’s chauffer, Virginia Foster testified that during that incident, Washington rushed to the car and requested her to bring her back to her own hotel room and also mentioned that during that time, Washington is really like in a state of shock.

Thomas Richardson, the emergency room doctor who had tested and checked up Washington also testified and confirmed that the condition of the complainant during that time even after more than 24 hours past the incident was obviously “after a rape” condition.

The Verdict!

Majority of the jurors found Mike Tyson guilty of rape. Some experts saw it probably because the jurors found Tyson so arrogant during the cross examination and seemed to have no guilt and regrets of what he had done.

Also, all their claims had loop holes indicating that they just had created their own version of the story.

Therefore on March 26 1992, Mike Tyson was sentenced to six years imprisonment which would be followed by four years on probation.