While attorneys involved in the criminal trial of Christopher and Jason Rosengrant will begin selecting jurors today, the civil suit filed in connection with the October 2003 death of former Penn State student Salvador Peter Serrano remains at a standstill.

The civil case has no connection to the criminal case, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow. Jury selection for the criminal trial begins at 1 p.m. today in Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte. Twelve jurors and two alternates will be chosen from about 200 people who have been summoned to serve.

The civil suit is currently in the preliminary pleading stage, which involves attorneys from both sides filing papers concerning the charges, said Lou Bové, one of the attorneys representing Serrano's mother and fiancée in the civil case.

Serrano died Oct. 26, 2003, after an altercation with the Rosengrants outside the All American Rathskeller, 108 S. Pugh St., where they were employed at the time.

Serrano, his fiancée Brooke Morgan and two friends were walking down Calder Way behind the bar when one friend, Timothy Padalino, stopped in the Rathskeller's parking lot to urinate. According to court documents, Rathskeller employees saw Padalino urinating and asked the group to leave, and an argument began. Court documents state that Serrano was pushed to the ground by Christopher Rosengrant and then restrained by Jason Rosengrant.

At some point during the altercation, Serrano began to vomit and choked, becoming unresponsive. He was later pronounced dead at Mount Nittany Medical Center.

The criminal case will determine whether Christopher and Jason Rosengrant were directly responsible for the death of Serrano because of their actions that night.

However, the complaint, filed in August with the U.S. District Court for Middle Pennsylvania on behalf of Serrano's mother, Grace Jimenez, and Morgan, alleges that State College municipal authorities and others were partially responsible for the actions leading to Serrano's death.

The suit alleges that the State College Police Department did not act appropriately regarding the safety of both Serrano and Morgan.

State College Police Chief Tom King could not be reached for comment yesterday about the matter, but he said at the time the suit was filed that he had no comment on the matter because the borough had not received official notification of the suit.

The civil case will determine whether borough authorities were negligent in any manner regarding their behavior the evening of Serrano's death.

Bové said there is no exact timeline for the preliminary pleading stage.

"Some take months. Some take 30 days," he said.

State College Borough Solicitor Terry Williams was out of town and could not be reached for comment on the current proceedings of the case.

In addition to naming the borough and Christopher and Jason Rosengrant as defendants, the suit also names bar employees Ryan and Curtis Rosengrant and Colin Haughton for their roles in the altercation.

Neither Ryan and Curtis Rosengrant nor Haughton were charged criminally for their actions. However, the suit claims that their actions prevented Morgan and her friends from coming to Serrano's aid during the incident.

The suit seeks damages for Morgan, who according to the suit has experienced "extreme emotional distress, anxiety, loss of sleep and other harm."