A Commonwealth Campus student was found not guilty of rape by a Centre County jury early yesterday morning, but was convicted on charges of indecent assault.

James Resseguie, 19, a student at Worthington Scranton Campus, was acquitted of four charges -- including two felonies --stemming from an incident in February involving a 19-year-old woman, who is also a student at a Commonwealth Campus.

After six hours of deliberation, the jury, consisting of six women and six men, handed down the decision at 2:30 yesterday morning.

Resseguie had been charged by the State College Bureau of Police Services with rape, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, simple assault and unlawful restraint in connection with an incident that occurred in an apartment at University Gateway, 616 E. College Ave, on Feb. 22.

Resseguie's attorney, First Assistant Public Defender Deborah Lux, said she was pleased with the jury's verdict, but added that it was inconsistent.

"Basically aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault are essentially the same offense," she said. "(The verdict) was inconsistent, but not uncommon."

The defense has not decided whether to file an appeal, Lux said, adding that the defendant has 10 days to do so.

If an appeal is filed by the defense it could be a year before Resseguie is sentenced, said Assistant District Attorney April Chamberlain, who prosecuted the case.

Centre County President Judge Charles C. Brown, who presided over the trial, ordered a pre-sentencing investigation --checking out the defendant's prior record and other factors that might influence the sentence -- but has not set a date for the sentencing trial, Chamberlain said.

Indecent assault -- which is defined as having indecent contact, but not intercourse, with another person who is not a spouse or forcing another to have indecent contact without consent -- is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum sentence of one to two years in prison, Chamberlain said.

Two of the charges that Resseguie was acquitted of, rape and aggravated indecent assault, are felonies and carry a much greater penalty, Lux said.