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Confiding by Accuser Described : Trial: Another contestant says Rhode Island woman changed dramatically after incident involving Tyson.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A contestant from the Miss Black America pageant testified Monday during Mike Tyson’s trial that another contestant had said, “He raped me,” and that the look on the accuser’s face “said it all.”

Stacy Murphy, a University of Chicago student, said that on the day after the alleged attack, the Rhode Island woman who is accusing Tyson of rape “acted like a zombie.”

Tyson, the former heavyweight boxing champion, is charged with four rape-related counts. His accuser, a Miss Black America contestant here last summer, says Tyson lured her to his hotel room and raped her in the early morning hours of July 19.

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“She wasn’t enthusiastic like she’d been before . . . she wasn’t the same,” Murphy said of the day after the alleged attack. “I thought it was because she’d been out late, to the Johnny Gill concert the night before. I asked her what was wrong, and I wasn’t prepared for what she told me.

“She said, ‘He raped me.’ Then she couldn’t stop talking about it. She said: ‘I came out of the bathroom and he was all over me.’

“She asked me not to tell the other girls, and I told her to tell her parents, or pageant officials or someone who could help her. I tried to get her mind off it by trying to get her to talk about things in her life she was proud of, but she just couldn’t stop talking about what had happened.

“When she said to me: ‘He raped me,’ that look on her face said it all. She didn’t even look like herself. I will never forget her face when she told me that.”

The prosecution said it would wrap up its case today by calling two witnesses. One is expected to be the alleged victim’s mother.

“We’ll finish tomorrow--unless something weird happens,” chief prosecutor Greg Garrison said.

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In addition, the 12 jurors for the first time heard testimony related to Tyson’s behavior at a July 18 afternoon Miss Black America dance rehearsal, where he met the Rhode Island woman.

One contestant testified that Tyson moved through a crowd of beauty contestants “like an octopus--feeling girls’ breasts and behinds.”

A University of District of Columbia sophomore, also a Miss Black America contestant here last summer, testified that Tyson made suggestive remarks to her, fondled her, and that she reprimanded the former heavyweight champion.

“He said to me as I bent over to pick something up: ‘Don’t bend over like that,’ ” Charrisse Nelson said.

“He also said to me: ‘Oh, what I could do with you.’ ”

Nelson also said that when Tyson fondled her she said to him: “ ‘Stop that!’--and he stopped.”

Nelson, as she was questioned by prosecuting attorney Barbara Trathen, also said she later approached Tyson and reprimanded him after she had observed Tyson fondling a former Miss Black America, Rosie Jones.

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“I said to him: ‘Why are you acting like this in public?’ “she said. “Then he looked at me and said: ‘You’re all right.’ ”

Tyson sat impassively through the testimony, even appearing to nod off for a few seconds during the morning session.

Nelson said she learned of alleged assault in the Omni Hotel lobby, the next day.

“Another contestant, Cecilia Alexander, and I came into the lobby at 2:15 a.m. and found her sitting in the lobby,” she said.

“I noticed she had no makeup on, which was unusual for her, and I asked if she was OK. She told me she was waiting for her mother so she could go to the hospital. When I asked what was wrong, she said: ‘I was with Mike Tyson last night and I was raped.’

“My immediate response to her was: ‘Are you going to press charges--take him to jail?’

“She described some of what she said happened. She said (during the rape) that he said ‘I like those girls who say no’ while he raped her.

“During the conversation, she had no drive, she seemed lifeless.”

Defense attorney F. Lane Heard III argued that any woman who witnessed Tyson’s behavior during the pageant’s afternoon dance rehearsal should have known why the boxer would invite a woman to his hotel room.

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Nelson said Tyson “paid particular attention” to the Rhode Island woman. And she agreed with Heard that Tyson “grabbed her and held on to her” and that the Rhode Island woman “did not resist--in fact, she giggled and smiled.”

When Heard asked Nelson: “Did she seem to enjoy having Mr. Tyson pay attention to her?” Nelson replied: “I wouldn’t say that, she just giggled and smiled.”

Tyson’s attorneys returned to a familiar theme in the morning session. Vincent Fuller, chief defense counsel, charged again that the clothing worn by the woman during the alleged assault had been mishandled by Indianapolis police.

After the woman returned home, Indianapolis police investigators had her cut a sample thread and pull nine sequins from her outfit and mail the samples to them. They were attempting to see if the sequins matched one found in the hotel room three days later.

Since then, police acknowledge, two sequins have disappeared. Fuller had this question for Indianapolis Police detective Thomas Kuzmik regarding the altered clothing: “Do you not consider that (the alterations) material alteration of evidence in this case?”

Kuzmik’s answer: “Yes.” He then said he had told prosecutors he would prefer having the entire garment sent to him.

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