Mike Tyson Will Not Be Charged in Assault

San Bernardino County prosecutors said Friday that they do not have enough evidence to pursue rape charges against boxer Mike Tyson, who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman while training near Big Bear Lake for his next fight.

Prosecutors, in a carefully worded statement, said they could not prove the case to a jury. Though the district attorney’s office said it remains “committed to prosecuting rape charges whenever appropriate,” four prosecutors independently concluded that the case would not hold up in court, and no criminal charges will be filed.

“We would have prosecuted him had we been able to conclude that we were able to prove the case beyond the possibility of a reasonable doubt,” said David Whitney, lead deputy district attorney in the department’s major crimes unit.

Gloria Allred, a Los Angeles attorney who represents the woman, declined to comment. Allred will hold a news conference to discuss the case Monday morning.

Tyson’s attorney, Darrow Soll, said in an interview from his office in Phoenix that “justice was done.”

“And it was done by a law enforcement community that was unbiased and conducted an investigation based on facts, not on public sentiment,” Soll said. “There was absolutely, imperatively, emphatically, no criminal wrongdoing.”

Tyson, Soll said, was ecstatic when he received word of the decision. The former heavyweight champion released a statement saying that he can now turn his full attention to his next fight, scheduled for Sept. 8. Tyson, 35, will fight Danish boxer Brian Nielsen in Copenhagen.

“There was never a doubt in my mind that, when the authorities took a hard look at the case, the truth would serve to vindicate me,” Tyson said.

The Big Bear Lake area, in the San Bernardino National Forest about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, is a popular destination for boxers because its altitude improves their conditioning and its remote locale affords them an unusual amount of privacy.

Tyson had been training in Big Bear this summer, and was seen for weeks as just another local, quickly forgiven even when he pocketed a batch of candy in a small shop, thinking members of his entourage had paid for it.

In mid-July, a local 50-year-old resident told the staff of a hospital that she had been raped. The woman later told authorities that she had been assaulted by Tyson inside the home he had rented nearby.

Tyson spent more than three years in an Indiana prison after he was convicted in 1992 of raping Desiree Washington, then an 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant. He was sent back to jail in 1999 for three months after he assaulted two motorists. Soll blamed the media for taking advantage of Tyson’s past to turn public sentiment against the boxer.

“Initially, there were reports that he is a convicted rapist, so he must be guilty of this,” Soll said. “The district attorney’s office saw through that.”

Investigators took his record into account during the investigation, Whitney said.

“Certainly, because of his past, we looked extremely carefully at the case, because of his reputation for violence and his prior rape conviction,” Whitney said.

The district attorney’s office said the decision came after a lengthy and exhaustive review of the case that consisted of countless hours reviewing written reports and medical records. Those records will not be released to the public, officials said.

Whitney said charges could still be filed if investigators learn significant new information.

“But I don’t want to mislead you,” he said. “The assessment we made is not likely to change. We’ve already conducted a very thorough investigation. I can’t imagine that anything is going to surprise us.”

Allred had challenged Tyson to sit down for an interview with investigators, but he never did, Whitney said. Because the boxer had not been charged with a crime, prosecutors had no legal mechanism to compel him to agree to an interview.

“It’s always helpful to us when we are able to interview defendants,” Whitney said. “But that is very rare.”