Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002 | 4:02 a.m.
District Attorney Stewart Bell said Thursday he has decided against filing sexual assault charges in two separate cases against former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
"There's no question that Mr. Tyson and the alleged victims had sexual relations," Bell told the Sun. "The issue is: Was it forced or consensual? And the answer is we couldn't tell. And so it was clear we couldn't prove it was forced beyond a reasonable doubt.
"We're not saying it didn't happen. We're not saying it did. We just couldn't tell."
Darrow Soll, one of Tyson's Phoenix-based attorneys, said his client was elated with Bell's decision and now planned to concentrate on "boxing, boxing, boxing."
Tyson has been searching for a city to host his fight with heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis since the Nevada Athletic Commission last month refused to grant Tyson a license here.
"We are very pleased that the Clark County District Attorney's Office did an independent investigation and agreed to review the case fairly rather than be controlled by pressures from the media and the conclusions of the police," Soll said.
"People should believe that this was complete and thorough investigation because if Stewart Bell's office thought they could get a conviction, they would have. They're some of the most skilled prosecutors in the country."
Bell said he told Sheriff Jerry Keller Thursday morning of his decision not to prosecute Tyson.
"He understood, and he respected our opinion," Bell said.
Metro Police last month asked the district attorney's office to file charges against Tyson stemming from two separate alleged sexual assaults at the former heavyweight champion's Las Vegas home -- one in November 2000 and another in September 2001.
On Thursday Bell sent a four-page letter -- signed by himself and nine veteran prosecutors who looked at the police evidence -- to the lead Metro detective in the two sexual assault cases explaining his decision not to file charges.
"There was consensus amongst all the prosecutors who reviewed this matter that there was no possibility whatsoever to successfully prosecute Mr. Tyson in regard to either or both of these events, given the burden of proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," Bell wrote.
At the same time, Bell praised police for conducting an "extremely thorough" investigation especially in the case of the woman who accused Tyson of raping her in September.
"Such an allegation, of course, cannot be considered far fetched in that Mr. Tyson was convicted by a jury of his peers, beyond a reasonable doubt, of sexual assault in another jurisdiction a few years ago," Bell said alluding to Tyson's 1992 rape conviction in Indiana.
Undersheriff Richard Winget said police "obviously" were disappointed with Bell's decision but were accepting it.
"We believed the investigation showed that a crime was committed and that Tyson committed it," Winget said.
"We felt the victim deserved a chance to have her case heard in court, but I understand (Bell) only has limited resources, and he has to determine how to best use those resources."
Winget said police do not intend to pursue the investigations any further in the wake of the district attorney's decision.
Since the police request last month, Bell and his team of nine prosecutors had been poring over what the district attorney called a "voluminous" police file in the two cases.
Earlier this week Tyson's other Phoenix-based attorney, Booker Evans, told the Sun that he provided Bell with information he believed exonerated the controversial boxer in the September incident.
Evans said the woman involved in the incident was in a relationship with Tyson for months prior to the alleged assault.
"The district attorney knows and we know that the woman and Tyson had a very close relationship for several months before these allegations arose," Evans said. "Everything indicates there was sexual contact prior to the date of the alleged incident on numerous occasions."
Evans said the Tyson defense team had no knowledge of the November 2000 incident.
Metro Police didn't learn of that allegation until last month.
Among those who reviewed the case with Bell were experienced members of his Case Assessment Division, headed by Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron Bloxham.
Another veteran prosecutor, Doug Herndon, who heads the district attorney's Special Victims Unit, also participated in the decision-making process.
Bell, who is not running for re-election, also had asked all three candidates running for his post -- Assistant District Attorney Mike Davidson and Chief Deputy District Attorneys David Roger and Abbi Silver -- to help him decide whether to file charges.
"These cases always are difficult to prove," Roger said. "The police did a great job. The evidence just wasn't there."
In making their decision prosecutors also examined evidence in two previous rape cases involving Tyson to look for a pattern in his conduct.
Tyson was convicted in Indiana in 1992 of raping a Miss Black America contestant and later served more than three years in prison. Last July a 50-year-old woman accused him of sexually assaulting her at a home he rented in Big Bear, Calif. while training. But investigators there decided against filing charges.
Sun reporter Keith Paul contributed to this report.
Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at [email protected].
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