ACCUSER TESTIFIES IN TYSON TRIAL

INDIANAPOLIS, JAN. 30 -- An 18-year-old college freshman testified in court today that boxer Mike Tyson lured her to his hotel room on a date in July, pinned her to the bed, ripped off her clothes and then raped her even as she screamed for him to stop.

The alleged victim, who met the former heavyweight boxing champion while competing in the Miss Black America pageant, appeared on the first day of testimony in Tyson's rape trial in Marion County Superior Court. Dressed in a stylish gray suit, white blouse and wearing silver earrings, she spent more than three hours on the witness stand, calmly and succinctly describing how on July 19 she ended up with Tyson in Room 606 of the Canterbury Hotel and the moments that followed.

As she testified, the 25-year-old boxer, wearing a gray suit, white shirt and blue tie, watched quietly from the defense table. She glanced at him once, when she was asked to identify "the defendant" in the courtroom. Their eyes never met.

The Tyson case, in which the boxer is charged with rape and three lesser felonies, is a textbook example of the emotional and legal complexities that arise over the issue of date rape. The critical question for the 12-person jury will be whether the woman consented to have sex with Tyson or whether she was forced against her will. Tyson is 5 feet 11 and well over 200 pounds; she is 5-3 and 108. Both agree sexual activity occurred.

The Washington Post does not identify alleged rape victims without their consent.

In opening statements this morning, lead prosecutor J. Gregory Garrison described the woman's academic accomplishments and community activities as a high school student in Rhode Island and explained how she was excited about meeting Tyson because her grandfather, father and brother were boxing fans who had closely followed his career.

But lead defense attorney Vincent J. Fuller painted a different portrait. He described Tyson's accuser as "a sophisticated" young woman who had "a compelling desire for money" and hoped to develop a relationship with Tyson because he was rich and famous. When she realized their sexual encounter amounted to "a one-night stand" for Tyson, Fuller stated, "it was devastating" to her.

She "was not victimized, but compromised," Fuller said. As a result, she "formulated" a story that would enable her to file a lawsuit if Tyson is convicted.

As its first witness, the prosecution called Keisha Johnson, one of the alleged victim's two roommates during the pageant. Johnson, Miss Black Oklahoma, was poised as she told how Tyson and his accuser met, how Tyson called their room to ask the woman out and how the woman's demeanor changed dramatically in the days afterward.

Under questioning from Garrison and appearing as the second witness, the alleged victim offered the following account of what took place:

She said she first saw Tyson when he performed a rap routine with pageant contestants during a rehearsal on July 18 and that he asked her on a date. "I said sure," she testified.

Some 12 hours later, at 1:36 a.m., she had almost fallen asleep in her hotel room when the phone rang, according to testimony. Johnson answered the phone and said, "It's Mike Tyson for you," the alleged victim recounted.

"He said, 'Can you come out?' I said, 'At this time?' " she testified. The woman said she told Tyson she had taken off her makeup and put on pajamas and suggested they go out the next day. But Tyson said he was leaving the next day and wanted to talk to her and that they could "go around Indianapolis." She asked one of her roommates to accompany her. When the roommate declined, she invited Tyson to their room. When her roommate said no, the woman agreed to meet him downstairs.

When she entered his gold limousine, "he hugged me and grabbed me to kiss me," she testified. "I kind of jumped back. I was surprised. His breath smelled bad too."

After they talked for a few minutes, the limousine stopped and she wasn't sure where they were, she testified.

Tyson then got out and beckoned her to follow, and she did, she said. They went to his suite and she sat in the foyer while he went to the bedroom to make a phone call.

A few minutes later she heard Tyson call: "The TV is in here." She responded, "I thought we were leaving." Then, she testified, he asked her to come to the bedroom because he wanted to talk. She sat at the foot of the bed -- Tyson was sitting at the head -- and he began to ask questions about her college plans, whether she was athletic and about her community involvements.

Then he asked if her parents liked him. "They don't really know you," she responded. He asked if she liked him. "I don't really know you either, but from what I've seen you're okay," she testified she told him.

"Then his voice changed like that and he said, 'You're turning me on,' " she testified. She responded: "I don't know why you got me up here. I'm not like that." She told him she wanted to leave after she used the bathroom, and he said, "Okay," she said.

The woman testified that while in the bathroom she noticed that her menstrual period was beginning. She disposed of her panty liner, forgetting that she had left her purse, which contained a fresh liner, in the bedroom. "I figured I could get a pad where we went next," she testified.

The woman said she returned to the bedroom and saw Tyson sitting on the bed in his underwear. "I was terrified. I said, 'It's time to leave,' " she testified. "He said, 'Come here.' He grabbed my arm and stuck his tongue in my mouth. He pulled me fast toward him.

"I pulled back," she continued, her voice rising for the first time. "He said, 'Don't frighten. Don't frighten. Relax.' I tried to punch him, but it was like hitting a wall. I said, 'Get off. Get off me. Stop.' The next thing I knew he slammed me on the bed."

With one forearm across her chest, Tyson used his other hand to pull off her shorts and underwear, she testified. "He put his hand in my vagina, he jammed his fingers in me really hard. I said, 'Ow, please stop. You're hurting me.' My eyes were filling up with tears. Then he started laughing like it was a game."

Tyson performed oral sex, she testified, and then raped her. "I said anything I could to get him off me," she testified. "I said I had a future ahead of me. 'Please don't get me pregnant, please put on a condom.' Then he said, 'I don't have anything, and I know you don't.' "

The woman said the pain was "excruciating. It felt like someone was ripping me apart."

When Tyson "was done" -- he withdrew and ejaculated on the bed -- he said, "Don't you love me now?" she testified. She rolled off the bed and as she was putting on her clothes he told her she could stay for the night. "I said, 'Why? So you can do this again?' " Then he told her she was "just a baby, a cry-baby," she testified.

She found Tyson's limousine driver and returned to her hotel. She told her roommates Tyson had tried to rape her and then asked them to leave her alone. She then took a long shower. "I felt dirty," she testified.

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ACCUSER TESTIFIES IN TYSON TRIAL