Testimony Calls Tyson ‘Ignorant’

On the ninth day of his rape trial Thursday, Mike Tyson’s case was bolstered by four contestants in the Miss Black America pageant here last summer, but their testimony was less than flattering.

The accounts of the four women differed markedly from that of Tyson’s accuser, an 18-year-old Rhode Island contestant who claims he raped her after luring her to his hotel room July 19.

Tyson is charged with rape and two counts of criminal deviate conduct. If convicted, he faces a possible 60-year prison sentence. Tyson claims the woman consented to sex.

He listened to two of the witnesses say his accuser called him “dumb, ignorant . . . he can’t talk . . . but he can make all the money and I’ll do all the talking.”

Tyson’s lawyers are trying to convince the jury that for his entire stay in Indianapolis, Tyson was a man whose behavior offered evidence that he was looking for sex. The defense also hopes to show his accuser had designs on Tyson’s wealth.

Thursday’s testimony, the first full day for the defense, often angered prosecutors Greg Garrison and Barbara Trathen. The beauty pageant entrants’ testimony, they charged, had changed from what they said in pretrial depositions and statements.

Madelyn Whittington, a pageant entrant from Milwaukee, said Tyson’s accuser told her: “Of course I’m going out with him. He’s Mike Tyson. He’s got a lot of money and he’s dumb--you saw what Robin Givens (Tyson’s ex-wife) got out of him.”

Givens and Tyson separated after eight months together and were divorced in June of 1989. The settlement was not disclosed, but lawyers said Givens would keep jewelry, several automobiles and an undisclosed amount of cash.

Whittington said she, too, was propositioned by Tyson, but that when she rebuffed him, Tyson responded with an expletive.

Another pageant contestant, Parquita Nassau of Atlanta, said Tyson misbehaved throughout his visit to a dance rehearsal at the pageant. She also said he fondled her.

Nassau added: “He looked at several of us and said, ‘I want to . . . you and you and you . . . ‘ I was disgusted, and I walked away. But I saw (the accuser) and Tyson behind a column, cuddling up to each other, looking like they were involved with each other.”

Nassau also confirmed hearing the accuser calling Tyson “so dumb he can’t talk . . . but I’ll do all the talking.”

Nassau said Tyson looked at her in a group and said: “I want someone who looks more wholesome, like her (Nassau). So many (pretty women) look like models, and models are gold diggers.”

Perhaps the most damaging of Nassau’s testimony was when she said the accuser “was quiet with me. . . . I think she felt I was a threat to her relationship with Mike Tyson.”

In cross-examination Garrison asked:

“Parquita, when I came to Atlanta and took your statement, you told me you thought (the accuser) was naive. What has happened in the last seven weeks? You also never told (Indianapolis) Detective Tom Kuzmick (that) the defendant and (the accuser) were behind a column.

“What has happened . . . to improve your memory?”

Midway through the afternoon session, the defense attempted to cast doubt on the medical exam performed on the accuser, the day after the alleged rape.

A gynecologist testifying for Tyson, Margaret Watanabe, spoke of the two vaginal abrasions reported by a hospital physician upon examining the accuser.

“My opinion is I can’t tell you (when examining such abrasions) if intercourse was forced or not. One can see abrasions with consensual sex.”

Superior Court Judge Patricia J. Gifford, after speaking privately with each juror about their reactions to Wednesday morning’s fire, which interrupted the trial for a day, replaced one black male juror, age 36, with an alternate juror, a white male, 44.

After that announcement, Joe Champion, a law clerk for Gifford, said the jurors--who have not been told of the loss of life in the fire--said “several” of them asked her why the flag in front of the courthouse was at half-staff (for the two firefighters killed) and why they were receiving increased security.

As to the reason why the juror was replaced, Champion said only: “Mental state.”

Marion County prosecutor Jeffrey Modisett said Thursday that no sign of arson has been found in the fire.