USA: Former boxing champion Mike Tyson appears in court and pleads guilty to cocaine possession

Mike Tyson pleaded guilty in court to cocaine possession and could face a sentence of three or four years in prison. Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson pleaded guilty to drug possession and driving under the influence (DUI) in an Arizona court on Monday (September 25). His plea resulted from an arrest last December in which authorities said Tyson, who has a long history of legal problems, admitted to using cocaine that day and to being addicted to the drug. He now faces up to three years and nine months in prison for the felony possession charge and up to six months in jail for the misdemeanour of DUI. The 41-year-old former boxer is scheduled to be sentenced on November Dressed in a light blue shirt and dark blue trousers during a brief appearance in Maricopa County Superior Court, a somber Tyson quickly answered a series of questions by the judge about the plea agreement, responding, "guilty" when asked how he pleaded to each count. Tyson was arrested on December 29, 2006 in Scottsdale, Arizona, after being spotted driving erratically upon leaving a nightclub and nearly colliding with a sheriff's vehicle, authorities said. Tyson served three years in an Indiana prison following a 1992 rape conviction. In 1999, he was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contest to two misdemeanour assault charges in Maryland. He was released after 3 1/3 months behind bars. The prize fighter once known as "Iron Mike" was banned from boxing for a year after biting a chunk out of rival Evander Holyfield's ear in their world title bout in Las Vegas in 1997. Tyson retired two years ago with a 50-6 record that included 44 knockouts.

ITN Source | September 26, 2007

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