A Penn State student accused of raping another student at a fraternity has been given a plea offer, his attorney confirmed yesterday.

Shawn Cornelius, who was 20 years old at the time of the alleged incident, is accused of sexually assaulting a then 18-year-old woman at Kappa Alpha fraternity, 234 E. Beaver Ave., on Oct. 28, 2005, State College police said.

He is charged with rape, sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault.

Centre County Assistant District Attorney Steve Sloane said he made the plea offer earlier this month. At this point, the terms of the offer are confidential, but Sloane said the difficulty in determining whether the woman was conscious made the plea offer decision complicated.

"It's not an easy case," he said. "Just conceptually, they're never easy."

Joseph Amendola, Cornelius' lawyer, confirmed that the offer had been made but said his client had not yet decided whether to accept it.

"We're still in the process of working through the offer," he said.

"I would suspect if something is worked out, it would probably happen next Monday," he added, referring to the jury selection date for Cornelius' case.

However, Sloane said he thought he might hear from Amendola regarding the plea agreement earlier than that.

The case was originally scheduled for a nonjury trial on March 6, but Amendola said he chose to delay the trial to allow more time for negotiation with the prosecution.

If convicted of all charges, Cornelius could go to state prison for 10 years, Sloane said.

"Instead of graduating at the BJC, you'll be at Rockview," he said.

According to court documents, the woman said after drinking at another party earlier in the night and at the fraternity, she passed out on the bed in a room that Cornelius was in.

She said that at different times when she woke up during the night, Cornelius was performing oral sex on her and was having sexual intercourse with her, according to the complaint.

The woman told police she was too intoxicated to move, according to court documents.

Amendola said Cornelius maintains that the woman was conscious and the sex was consensual. He has said the woman may have been too drunk to accurately remember what occurred.