A criminal trespass charge against a Penn State student accused of entering a woman's dorm room in McKean Hall was dropped Wednesday because court documents did not include the signature of the district attorney.

James Conteh Jr. had been charged in two separate incidents of criminal trespass. Though Centre County Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall dropped one of the charges because of the missing signature, he said he plans to re-file the charge after Penn State's winter break.

The first incident took place on Oct. 18 on the sixth floor of McKean Hall. District Justice Daniel Hoffman dismissed that charge because he said the evidence did not support a charge of criminal trespass.

The second charge stemmed from an incident on Nov. 7 in which Conteh allegedly entered the second floor McKean Hall dorm room of a female student while she was sleeping. Conteh waived his preliminary hearing on this charge last week and it will now go to trial.

The charge for the first incident was re-filed after Hoffman dismissed it. However, Marshall said he decided to drop this charge Wednesday because a police officer failed to obtain Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar's signature on the court documents.

Despite this, the charge was still brought before Hoffman to obtain a warrant for Conteh's arrest. Hoffman issued the warrant despite the absence of Gricar's signature.

Marshall said he spoke to Conteh's attorney, Karen Muir, on Wednesday. Marshall said she was aware of the missing signature and planned to move to dismiss the charge. At this point, Marshall said he decided to drop the charge.

Marshall said he could have obtained the signature and re-filed the charge immediately, but he decided not to because both Conteh and the victim would have to appear in court during finals week.

To avoid this, Marshall said he plans to re-file the charge at the beginning of the spring semester.

The charge from the Nov. 7 incident in which Conteh waived his preliminary hearing is scheduled to go to trial in February.

However, Marshall said this charge might be combined with the charge from the Oct 18 incident once it is re-filed. He said the two charges would then probably go to trial in April.

The Office of Judicial Affairs gave Conteh an interim expulsion while it investigates the incidents. The expulsion prohibits Conteh from being on campus until Judicial Affairs concludes its investigation.

University spokeswoman Amy Neil said the fact that Marshall dropped one of the charges against Conteh does not change the Judicial Affairs process or the interim expulsion. This is because Judicial Affairs investigates Penn State code of conduct violations, not criminal charges.

Neil also said the interim expulsion would be extended into the spring semester if the Judicial Affairs investigation is not complete by the end of next week.

Marshall said Hoffman dismissed the trespass charge from the Oct. 18 incident because the alleged violation did not rise to the level of a criminal offense.

Marshall said this ruling was frustrating to him and the victim. He said if the incident had taken in place in an apartment or a house, it would have been considered a criminal offense.

"We're re-filing the charge because a crime was committed," Marshall said. "A person's dorm room is their home."