The State College man charged with murdering a Penn State student last year will have his bail hearing today in an attempt to establish bail and leave Centre County Correctional Facility for the first time in eight months.

Five weeks after Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira decided not to seek the death penalty against Andrew A. Rogers, of 224 Nimitz Ave., public defenders are asking Judge Bradley Lunsford to consider giving Rogers an opportunity to leave jail.

Rogers is charged with first- and third-degree murder for allegedly placing a garbage bag over Youngcheol Park's head and beating him with a bottle and baseball bat last February.

Centre County Assistant Public Defender Casey McClain said because Madeira was originally seeking the death penalty, Rogers had been ineligible for bail.

Madeira is no longer seeking the death penalty for Rogers.

McClain said he and court-appointed attorney Deborah Lux are hoping for any opportunity to get their client out of jail prior to his trial but realize that they may not succeed.

"We'll see what the judge does, but keep in mind this is a very serious case," McClain said.

He added that Rogers has no prior convictions, which may help his case today.

Madeira said the prosecution also has no inclination as to what Lunsford will decide, but said he believes they have a strong case against Rogers.

"I think we have a very good argument for him remaining in prison," Madeira said.

Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall will be representing Centre County at today's hearing.

"I don't want to speculate as to what's going to happen," he said. "I'm just going to present the facts and law."

McClain said the judge could set a monetary bail or a supervised bail, which requires the defendant to report to the Centre County bail agency on assigned dates.

However, Madeira said Rogers' ties to the community are not strong enough for Centre County to trust that he will abide by those guidelines.

McClain said although they could succeed in getting a monetary bail set, it could be out of Rogers' financial range.

"In those cases you can look to family members to see if they'll help out," he said. "The bottom line is the bail is there essentially to make sure a person shows up to court for their future court date and ensure the safety of society."

McClain said Lunsford could set an "extraordinarily high" bail citing the community's safety, in which case Rogers will most likely remain in jail.

However, monetary bails can also be paid in increments if allowed, McClain said.

"[The judge] could set $100,000 bail, but say if you pay 10 percent, we'll let you out," McClain said.

Rogers' jury is scheduled to be selected Jan. 8.