Prosecutors: Boxer Mike Tyson will not be charged with sexual assault

Friday, February 22nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Prosecutors concluded that boxer Mike Tyson engaged in sexual relations with two women who claimed they were sexually assaulted, but determined there was ``no possibility whatsoever'' to successfully prosecute the former heavyweight champion.

Ten prosecutors reviewed the evidence in the two separate cases and said the police investigation was so thorough that there was nothing more police could have done, or could do in the future, that would warrant charges.

``We are grateful that the Clark Country District Attorney's Office conducted an independent review of both cases and did not rely solely on information gathered by the police department,'' Tyson's lawyer, Darrow K. Soll, said in a statement.

Police wanted prosecutors to issue arrest warrants for Tyson on multiple counts of sexual assault in each case.

``It was simply unclear whether the sexual interaction between each of the two alleged victims and Mr. Tyson was consensual or forced,'' Clark County prosecutors wrote in a letter Thursday to Las Vegas police.

In one case, a Las Vegas woman went to a hospital in September with injuries that she said she suffered when the boxer raped her at his home.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Doug Herndon has said the woman had been in a romantic relationship with Tyson for six-months.

Police searched Tyson's $1.3 million home for more than six hours on Sept. 26 and confiscated several boxes of material, including videotapes, sheets and towels.

A second woman told police on Dec. 28 that she had been attacked at Tyson's home in November 2000. The woman initially reported the alleged rape to police near her out-of-state home and the information was not initially relayed to Las Vegas police, authorities said.