Tyson pleads guilty to drug, DUI charges in Arizona
Associated Press

Updated: September 24, 2007, 1:08 PM ET
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MESA, Ariz. -- Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson pleaded guilty Monday to charges of drug possession and driving under the influence stemming from a traffic stop last year as he was leaving a nightclub.

Tyson spoke in hushed tones as he acknowledged to a judge that he had cocaine and was impaired when he was stopped for driving erratically in Scottsdale on Dec. 29.

He pleaded guilty to a single felony count of cocaine possession and a misdemeanor DUI count. A felony charge of possession of drug paraphernalia and a second misdemeanor DUI charge were dropped, according to the terms of a plea agreement.

Tyson faces a maximum of four years and three months in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 19.

Defense lawyer David Chesnoff said Tyson has been clean and sober for eight months and has been talking to community groups about his own drug problems.

"It's obvious this was a crime he was committing against himself," Chesnoff said.

Police stopped Tyson after the boxer had spent the evening at Scottsdale's Pussycat Lounge. An officer said he saw Tyson wiping a white substance off the dashboard of his black BMW, and that his speech was slurred. Authorities found bags of cocaine in Tyson's pocket and in his car.

Tyson told officers later that he used cocaine "whenever I can get my hands on it," and that he preferred to smoke it in Marlboro cigarettes with the tobacco pulled out.

According to a court document, Tyson admitted to being an addict.

Tyson also told police that he used marijuana that day and was taking the antidepressant Zoloft.

Since his arrest, Tyson checked himself into an inpatient treatment program for what his lawyer called "various addictions." Chesnoff had said previously that he'd try to keep the boxer out of prison.

"You never know," Chesnoff said. "If there had been more people interested in his well-being and health along the way, we wouldn't be here now."

County Attorney Andrew Thomas said earlier this year that Tyson should be put behind bars if convicted, noting that Tyson was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1992 and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault charges in Maryland in 1999.

"He has run out of second chances, at least in my book," Thomas said then.

In 1986, Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history when, at 20, he knocked out Trevor Berbick. He lost his title four years later when he was knocked out by James "Buster" Douglas. By 1997, Tyson's career hit a low point when he bit Evander Holyfield's ear during a fight.

Tyson recently had been trying to revive his career with a series of four-round boxing exhibitions.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

Does DUI carry a prison sentence in the US? If it does then yes of course, if not then if found guilty he should pay the recompense.

I dont see the issue

Hard to say. My first impulse is "No". But then I wonder, what if he'd had a wreck and hurt or killed someone? If he never has to suffer legal consequences for driving while impaired, what's to stop him from doing it again? And what if the next time, he kills someone?

I don't think DUIs by themselves carry a prison sentence. I think you have to hurt or kill someone. I could be wrong. As we are finding out in P&R, my legal theories are subject to debate.

RodeoSchro said:

I think it varies from state to state but normally on a first DUI conviction with no accident, there is no jail time. As long as your record is clean.

If you are on parole or have had other trouble in your past, that could factor in as well.

What a shocker

Why is it that the people who don't need anything to feed their energy are the ones who use coke?

I should be the one using it! Mike needs some shrooms & weed!

Yep

Sowhat said:

Interesting....but if that is so , then why did they send Paris Hilton to prison ?

It is very sad to see how this talented man is destroying himself. If there´s a prison sentence for DUI ( and I think there is, see Paris Hilton ), then he should spemd some time in prison..not 4 years though , maybe a month or a couple of weeks.
Things started going downhill when Cus D´Amato died and when Mike met Don King.


This dude used to be a soft spoken young man who would breed doves in Brooklyn way back in the days.What a shame.

KoolEaze said:

I thought Paris had more than one DUI and/or other trouble and she was on parole.

Sowhat said:

she went to jail because it wasn't her first DUI

Mike Tyson should be permenantly locked up...

He's one of those rare crazy guys that don't know how to function in society.

His craziness was cool when he was young, because he focused it into boxing and became one of the most dominant boxers of all time...he had focus and guidance through his coaches.

Now, he has no one but hangers-on...and he'll pay for it in the end.

Mike seemed nearly intelligent & sane when he was in prison. He was so focused and thoughtful. Seems like a lifetime ago!

Possession is one thing, but DUI is another altogether.

Even if coke doesn't mess up your driving skills, I doubt it helps, and we shouldn't mess around with those laws. So many people are dying out on the roads that there should be strict rules, and they should be enforced.

As the old cliche goes, driving is a privilege, not a right!! Sober up, put down your phone, pay attention, stop racing, and let's be careful out there and enjoy the incredible convenience of having a car to take us wherever we want to go.