Tyson Case Will Go to Jury Today

Both sides rested their cases Sunday in the case of the State of Indiana vs. Michael G. Tyson.

The eight-man, four-woman jury will be given the case today after closing arguments by first the prosecution’s Barbara Trathen; then Tyson’s lawyer, Vincent Fuller; and, finally, a closing rebuttal by chief prosecutor Greg Garrison. Today’s wrap-up comes after 12 days of testimony by 50 witnesses, 25 for each side.

The 25-year-old former heavyweight champion, if found guilty on all three rape-related counts, faces a minimum sentence of six years and a maximum of 60 years in prison.

Tyson is accused of raping a Rhode Island contestant during last July’s Miss Black America pageant here.

Tyson must be found guilty or not guilty by a unanimous jury vote on each count. If he is not, the Marion County prosecutor’s office could either drop the charge or try it again. County prosecutor Jeffrey Modisett talked about that possibility during a break Sunday.

“Obviously, in that event we’d weigh all the factors, and the jury’s vote would be one of those factors,” Modisett said.

“This is a relatively small prosecutor’s office, and this case has cost us about $50,000 so far. And we’ve still got some hotel bills to add up.”

Tyson’s defense team, headed by Fuller, has sought to portray Tyson as the victim of a gold-digging 18-year-old woman who sought Tyson’s wealth, but instead wound up as a one-night stand.

Tyson’s attorney’s produced 11 Miss Black America contestants who testified they heard the 18-year-old woman make references to Tyson’s wealth and sexual prowess.

The prosecution produced pageant entrants who said they never heard such references.

Sharmell Sullivan, who won the Miss Black America pageant in which Tyson’s accuser competed, testified Sunday that she was near Tyson’s accuser but never heard her admire Tyson’s physique, as another contestant has claimed.

“I would definitely recollect a statement of that nature because it’s very blunt, and I’m not used to hearing things of that nature at a beauty pageant,” Sullivan said.

Tyson’s attorneys also have tried to demonstrate that his sexual misbehavior, including the fondling of several contestants, at a pageant dance rehearsal the afternoon before the alleged assault should have been a warning to all of the contestants about Tyson’s sexual appetite.

The prosecution has portrayed the woman as a naive, somewhat star-struck teen-ager whom Tyson, after promising her a limousine ride “to see the sights of Indianapolis,” instead lured to his hotel room and attacked.

Tyson testified Friday that he had bluntly told the woman what his intentions were at the dance rehearsal.

“She asked me if we were going out for a movie or dinner,” he said. “I said: ‘No, that’s not what I have in mind.’ Then I explained to her I wanted to (have sex with) her.”

On Sunday, the prosecution sought to discredit that account by playing an audio tape of Tyson’s grand jury testimony for the jury. Friday, Tyson said he was “cut off” by his questioner before the grand jury last September as he was about to describe how bluntly he had stated his intentions to the woman.

However, on the audio tape, no one can be heard cutting him off. In fact, there are lengthy gaps between sentences as Tyson described the key conversation to the grand jury like this: “I want you--I want you alone. And she said to me: ‘Well, that’s awfully bold. Yeah, call me.’ ”

The trial’s emotional high point arrived Feb. 4, when the woman’s mother testified that days following the alleged rape, her daughter had told her: “Mother, (her daughter’s first name) gone and she’s not coming back anymore.”

As she completed her testimony, the mother said, still crying: “I just want my daughter back.”

During that testimony, an alternate juror, a woman, was seen crying.

“There’ve been some powerful moments in this thing, and that was one of them,” Garrison said to reporters Sunday. “I never saw a juror cry before.”

If Tyson is found guilty on all three counts and is given the minimum sentence of six years, Judge Patricia J. Gifford could suspend all or part of that sentence, according to retired Marion County Superior Court judge John Tranberg.

Material from the Associated Press is included in this story.