Karoly, the lead attorney for Penn State tailback and accused rapist Austin Scott, said he will seek to introduce into evidence the fact that Scott's accuser brought similar charges in 2003 against a Moravian College student who was later acquitted.

The next preliminary hearing for Scott at the Centre County Government Courthouse, in Bellefonte, is Nov. 15, at which time the fifth-year senior will formally enter a plea of not guilty. A trial date is expected to be set for sometime in February.

"It's not a level playing field by any means," Karoly, of Allentown, said of what he characterized as improper implementation of Pennsylvania's rape shield law to protect the identity of this particular complainant. "Austin could not bring some of his teammates to the preliminary hearing [last Wednesday] for fear that it would be seen as an attempt to intimidate the accuser. Meanwhile, she was surounded by every available resource, including victims'-rights groups and rape-crisis counselors.

"Think about it. Austin Scott's name has been in every headline. His name and face are all over the television. Yet to this day, not even from her prior case in which her allegations did not withstand scrutiny, has her name ever been published or a single photograph of her been made known."

The protection of a sexual-assault victim's identity and sexual history are integral to Pennsylvania's rape shield law, and an issue over which Karoly and his co-counsel, State College's Joe Amendola, seem likely to battle with Centre County assistant district attorney Lance Marshall, who is prosecuting the case.

In a statement released Friday, Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira and Marshall denounced Karoly's attempt to shift the focus onto the alleged victim's past as "irrelevant" and "inflammatory."

"The decision to charge Austin Scott by the Centre County District Attorney's office and the Penn State University police department was deliberate and unanimous," the statement read. "We believe the attempts by John Karoly, Austin Scott's attorney, to bring potentially irrelevant information to the attention of the public frustrates the function of the court and the pursuit of justice, both for Austin Scott and the people of Centre County. The primary reason John Karoly hopes to try this case in the media is to intimidate the victim of the crime and prevent her from testifying. This highly inflammatory and prejudicial information serves only to embarrass and humiliate the victim."

Scott, 22, has described the Oct. 5 encounter with his accuser, also 22 and a Penn State student, as consensual sex.

Scott was suspended from the football team after the encounter but remains enrolled at the university. He is free on $50,000 unsecured bond.

"I can't make believe that I don't dislike this girl for lying so much," Scott said in a statement, his first public pronouncement since the charges were announced. "I went to the police myself when they asked to talk to me so they could get to the bottom of this and clear me.

"I have nothing to hide. I would never, never do what she said. I know it is not realistic but deep down I think that the DAs may check this out again and do the right thing. I guess you could say that I still believe in justice."

Scott said he hoped to meet with the prosecutors and have them question him so "they would know I am telling the truth. Ask anyone who knows me. Anyone.

"This is a very hard way to learn how the law works," Scott said. "Never did I imagine that if you are truthful and hold nothing back and the facts support you that something like this can happen."

In 2003, the same woman accused a Moravian College fraternity pledge of rape. She said the two had consensual sex in his room while his roommate was in the bottom bunk, but that after the roommate left, the fraternity pledge raped her several times.

That case went to trial in November 2004 and ended in an acquittal on the most serious charges. The jury couldn't reach a verdict on three counts, and prosecutors eventually decided against a retrial.

"I'm not a doctor . . . but it seems to me that with everything that has gone on with her, somebody should have tried to help her with her problems, not go after me,'' Scott said in the statement. I'm not the kind of guy to pass judgment, but, jeez, look at what she did to me, my family, my team and my school. It's just hard, very hard."

Said Karoly: "The circumstances of her [previous] rape and sexual-assault charges are eerily similar to those she brought against Austin Scott."

Karoly also questioned the timing of the Centre County DA's office in scheduling Scott's arraignment.

"Not only do I believe they rushed to judgment, they scurried around to find a district magistrate to sign the charges on the eve of homecoming, so 110,000 visitors to Penn State could see this splashed across the headlines the next morning," he said.

Madeira and Marshall countered that had they delayed the case, "then the perception that Penn State football players are treated differently than 'regular citizens' would become a reality." *