Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992 TAG: 9202140021
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
TYSON'S ACCUSER REVEALS HER IDENTITY
The beauty queen who was raped by boxer Mike Tyson gave People permission to run her picture and name, the magazine said Thursday.A smiling photograph of Desiree Washington, who competed in the Miss Black America pageant as Miss Rhode Island, appears on People's Feb. 24O cover.
The magazine quotes her as saying: "I didn't do it for fame. It was the right thing to do."
Tyson, the former heavyweight champion, was convicted Monday of raping Washington, an 18-year-old freshman at Providence College, in an Indianapolis hotel room last July.
In Indianapolis, Judge Patricia Gifford granted a defense request to delay Tyson's sentencing hearing by three weeks, from March 6 to March 27, and scheduling conflicts could make it even later, court officials said Thursday.
Tyson testified that Washington consented to sex after the two met at a pageant rehearsal in Indianapolis. During the trial, some news organizations, including NBC, identified the accuser without permission.
Washington's personal lawyer in Rhode Island, Edward Gerstein, said he had no knowledge of her decision to go public. Two messages left on a Providence answering machine believed to be Washington's were not returned. Washington wasn't paid for permission to use her identity, said People spokeswoman Beth Kseniak. She said Greg Garrison, the special prosecutor who won the Tyson conviction, arranged for Washington to talk with a People correspondent and grant permission for use of her name and photograph.
But Garrison denied arranging anything. "I was asked if I would arrange it, I said I would pass the request along and I did," he said.
The edition goes on sale Sunday, but People provided a copy of the cover and story Thursday. Kseniak said they interviewed Washington after their trial story had gone to press, so the cover was the only place she could be quoted.