Indiana’s Supreme Court Rules Against Tyson’s Request for Bail

In a unanimous decision Friday, the five-member Indiana Supreme Court declined to review lower court decisions denying former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson bail while he appeals his rape conviction.

The Supreme Court said that in unusual circumstances it could assume jurisdiction over bail disputes, but that there is no reason to do so in Tyson’s case.

The court ordered the case returned to the state Court of Appeals. In past cases, that court has ruled that it won’t reconsider its own decisions on appeal bond.

However, Alan M. Dershowitz, the Harvard University law professor handling Tyson’s appeal, said the Supreme Court’s decision did not close the door to asking the appeals court to justify their reasons for denying bail.

“We are considering Mr. Tyson’s options and are most anxious to present the merits of his appeal to the Court of Appeals as quickly as possible since we believe those merits are very strong,” Dershowitz said in a statement.

An appeal of Tyson’s conviction and six-year prison sentence is expected to take at least four to six months.

Tyson, 25, was convicted of assaulting Desiree Washington of Coventry, R.I., in his Indianapolis hotel room last July. Washington, then 18, was a Miss Black America beauty pageant contestant.

Dershowitz had asked the Supreme Court either to release Tyson on bail or to send the case back to the Court of Appeals with directions on the proper standards to employ in bail decisions.