Mike Tyson Headed To Prison?

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 3, 1999 / 7:33 PM EST / CBS Sportsline

The two men Mike Tyson attacked at a fender bender think the former heavyweight champ shouldn't go to jail. The prosecutor feels otherwise.

The opinion that counts is that of Judge Stephen Johnson, who on Friday will determine whether Tyson's latest comeback is done after just one fight.

Johnson will sentence the fighter on two counts of second-degree assault, prompting a decision in Indiana on whether Tyson violated his probation for a 1991 rape conviction.

"If he goes to jail here, it's much, much more likely he'll go to jail there," said Paul Kemp, Tyson's lawyer.

Johnson must determine whether Tyson is "nothing less than a time bomb buried in our back yard" -- as argued by Montgomery County State's Attorney Douglas Gansler -- or a "different Mike" who has taken well to therapy and has become a more caring person -- as put forth by his adviser Shelley Finkel and others.

On Aug. 31, Tyson kicked one motorist and punched another after a minor three-car accident in the Washington suburb of Gaithersburg, Md. On Dec. 1, Tyson pleaded no contest -- meaning he neither protests the assault charges nor admits guilt -- and could receive up to 20 years' imprisonment.

"He acted inappropriately that day," Tyson's wife, Monica, who was driving when the accident occurred, told The Washington Post. "But he never intentionally struck anyone."

Mike Tyson might be headed to jail. He finds out his fate Friday. (AP)

The two victims, Abmielec Saucedo and Richard Hardick, were paid an undisclosed amount to avoid a civil suit shortly before Tyson's plea. Both will be present Friday, ready to testify on Tyson's behalf.

"Any inference that we've been purchased or bribed is off the wall," said Saucedo's lawyer, Glenn Culpepper. "From the very beginning, my client said he didn't want him to convicted, he wanted him to be helped."

Tyson's lawyer, who will ask for probation, plans to call character witnesses, including one from a Washington homeless shelter where Tyson has been doing volunteer work. He will also point out Tyson's goodwill acts while training in Arizona -- he visited teen-age inmates and paid for the funeral of a 2-year-old girl shot to death.

Tyson, who lives in Bethesda, Md., is undergoing therapy at Georgetown University.

"I think that his actions speak for themselves. You're seeing a different Mike," Finkel said. "This was a minor accident. The two defendants settled with him and said they wanted him to get help, and that's what happened. What more cold you ask?"

The prosecution sees things differently. Gansler called Tyson a "bully" who committed "road rage." The prosecutor quoted the November Playboy interview in which Tyson called himself a "hateful individual" and said, "I know I'm going to blow one day."

"The state need go no further than the defendant's own statements to arrive at the conclusion that (he) is not only volatile, but dangerous," Gansler said.

Gansler also details Tyson's rape conviction in Indiana, seven brushes with the law as a juvenile, as well as the infamous fight in which Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear in June 1997. Tyson subsequently had his boxing license revoked for a year before returning to knock out Francois Botha in a comeback bout last month.

What Gansler cannot do is ask the judge to put Tyson in jail. The no-contest plea agreement negotiated by Gansler's predecessor forbids that.

Gansler doesn't like that agreement. So he's been publicly saying Tyson should go to jail while telling the judge that Tyson should be sentenced to a "period of executed incarceration," which technically could mean home detention.

Tyson's lawyer calls that a "violation of the rules of professional conduct."

"Is the judge a dunce, that he doesn't read The Washington Post or the AP wire? ... I'm asking for straight probation. I really think he deserves it," Kemp said.