Jury selection is scheduled today for the retrial of former Penn State student and wrestler Jean Celestin, who was convicted of an August 1999 sexual assault.

Centre County Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall said Celestin's trial date is tentatively set for March 23 and 24 at the Centre County Courthouse.

"We will probably have a better idea of whether this date for the retrial is accurate or not at jury selection," Marshall said.

Celestin's pretrial conference was held Jan. 30 after it was rescheduled from Jan. 26 because the defense attorney, Eric Linhardt, was unable to attend the original pretrial, Marshall said.

In a 2001 trial, Celestin was convicted of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old Penn State student. He was sentenced to two to four years in prison and was ordered to register as a sex offender.

Celestin claimed he had ineffective assistance at his trial and appealed to the Pennsylvania Superior Court. Linhardt filed the appeal, alleging that Celestin's previous counsel was ineffective because he failed to object to the admission of "hearsay statements" and an illegally recorded telephone conversation, which identified Celestin as the second perpetrator in the assault.

The court confirmed the claim, deeming Celestin's trial lawyer, Mark Lancaster, ineffective in October 2005.

Celestin was released from Centre County prison Nov. 1 in lieu of $25,000 unsecured bail.

Celestin's retrial was initially scheduled for Jan. 9 and 10, but Centre County Judge Thomas Kistler granted a continuance to allow Celestin and Linhardt more time to prepare for trial.

Linhardt filed the motion in November saying he did not have enough time to prepare a "competent and effective" pretrial investigation. The motion noted that Linhardt was not the previous trial lawyer, but an appellate lawyer, and therefore, did not have the preparation time necessary to represent Celestin effectively by January.

Linhardt was unable to be reached as of press time.