Mike Tyson traded in his $1,000 threads for a light-green jail jumpsuit and spent his first day in Cell Block 2 yesterday as his lawyers pondered an appeal of his surprising jail sentence.
While family and friends were still reeling in shock from Friday’s hearing, Tyson’s future as a boxer and a free man remained unclear.
“We’re discussing” an appeal, was all the heavyweight’s lawyer, Paul Kemp, would say after leaving the Montgomery County Detention Center, where Tyson was being held in protective custody – standard procedure for new inmates.
It’s unclear on what issue the Tyson camp could base an appeal, but Kemp has complained that after Montgomery County voters elected a new, more aggressive district attorney last fall, prosecutors reneged on a plea deal to keep Iron Mike out of prison.
Asked how the 32-year-old Tyson was feeling, Kemp snapped, “How do you think?
“We feel we’ve been screwed by the press,” Kemp said.
About a half-hour earlier, the attorneys had picked up a white shopping bag filled with the former champ’s personal belongings from his $2 million home 10 miles away in Potomac, Md.
Well-wishers came in and out of the estate, which stands behind iron gates emblazoned with a “T” and overlooks the prestigious Congressional Country Club golf course.
Tyson’s wife, Monica, refused to talk with a reporter before driving off with burly bodyguard James Anderson, father of Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson.
The pair were not seen visiting the jail.
Tyson’s friends and family were still clearly stunned by Judge Stephen Johnson’s decision to send the fighter to jail for one year after he pleaded no contest to attacking two motorists after a traffic accident last August.
The jail term could end Tyson’s career – and land him back in prison in Indiana to finish his sentence for a 1992 rape conviction.
Nevada Deputy Attorney General Keith Kaizer said the Nevada Boxing Commission, which reinstated Tyson last October saying it would be his last chance, “would have some tough questions” for him.
“It’s undecided,” Kaizer said.