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4.2.12
WC: 191694

Was Mike Tyson the victim of the changing politics of rape?

The first time I met Mike Tyson was the night before he was to be sentenced and sent to prison.
Mike was deciding whether to accept Don King’s recommendation that he hire me as his appellate
lawyer. He was in a hotel room in Indianapolis, Indiana, with his large entourage. After briefly
discussing the case and the appeal, he turned to me and asked point blank, “So professor, I have
two questions. Do you believe I’m innocent and what do you think of me as a person?” I replied
to the first question that I had no basis at that time to form a judgment about his guilt or
innocence since I had not yet read the transcripts. He replied, “ok that’s the lawyers’ talk. I
understand. Now, man to man, what do you think of me?” I looked him straight in the eye and
said: “If you’re innocent, you’re a real schmuck.” He looked back at me and said, “You calling
me a schmuck?” I said, “Yes, if you’re innocent then you’re a schmuck for going up to a hotel
room at three o’clock in the morning with a woman who you didn’t know, without any witnesses,
thereby putting yourself in a position where she could accuse you of so serious a crime.” He
turned to several members of his entourage and said, “This man’s calling me a schmuck. He’s
right. I want to know why you guys didn’t call me a schmuck. He’s hired. I need somebody
who’s willing to call me a schmuck when I am a schmuck.”

That was Mike Tyson - - direct and to the point. While preparing his appeal I went to visit him in
prison several times. The prison rules required that we sit side-by-side facing a camera.
Whenever I would say something he agreed with, he would give me a gentle love tap on my arm
or on my thigh. A love tap to him! When I got back to my hotel I was black and blue.

One day I saw a guard taunt him mercilessly and watched him strain to control himself. He did
hard time in prison. I sent him books to read—about subjects that interested him such as ancient
Egypt, the “roaring 20s” in the United States, and the history of boxing. When I would come to
visit him, he asked me to test him about what he had read. He passed with flying colors.

Mostly we talked by phone about his appeal. Mike would have to wait in the phone line for hours
to call me. Once, as I picked up the phone, he heard my baby daughter crying in the background.
He told me to “take care of your kid” and he would call back later. He was always considerate.

Some people find it hard to believe, but Mike was a wonderful client, always polite, always
honest, always honorable, and always thinking of others. He ran out of money during the appeal
and I continued to represent him without pay. I never thought I would see a penny of what he
owed me, but several days after he fought his first fight upon being released, he sent checks to
every one of his lawyers for the full amount that he owed.

Tyson’s trial had been a disaster. His prominent white collar trial lawyer had little experience in
rape cases and didn’t seem to like Tyson. He made mistake after mistake, both tactical and legal.
The legal expert who reported on the trial for USA Today described the trial as “filled with
mistakes, omissions and elementary errors” by Tyson’s trial lawyers. I had followed the trial in
the media, but I didn’t realize what a terrible job his chief trial counsel had done until I reviewed

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