With four men huddled around him, the lawyer defending former Nittany Lion running back Austin Scott against rape charges picked an all-white, mostly male jury after a three-hour deliberation yesterday.
Scott's Lawyer, John Karoly, told the potential jurors that legal experts have suggested that race may be an issue in case such as Scott's, based on "the fact that Mr. Scott is black" and "the fact that [his accuser] is a white female." He went further to ask if anyone had problems with interracial sexual relationships, to which no one responded that they did.
Scott, who is facing rape charges, is scheduled for trial April 16 to 18, just days before his former teammates will compete against each other in the annual Blue-White game. The trial will conclude 10 days before the NFL draft.
Skip Arbuckle, who was also present, took over for Joseph Amendola as Scott's local lawyer last Monday.
Scott, 23, of Allentown, is charged with rape, sexual assault, simple assault and two counts of indecent assault, stemming from an alleged Oct. 5 incident with a female student at his Nittany Apartments residence.
On Oct. 22, a Centre County judge dealt a gag order, barring any public comment on the case from Karoly or any of the parties involved.
Because the case was followed by numerous media outlets, Centre County Judge Thomas Kistler told jurors to avoid reading newspaper articles.
"You're going to have the best seat in the house," Kistler said. "Reading what someone else has said about the case won't help."
Several potential jurors were excused because they felt they could not be fair and impartial because of media coverage of the case.
"I've probably already made up my mind," said one potential juror, before being dismissed by Kistler.
One of the first questions asked by the defense was whether any of the jury pool members were season ticket holders. A few potential jurors raised their hands, but all of them indicated this would not affect their ability to be impartial.
Much of the pre-selection discussion focused on whether jurors should give more credibility to police officers and those in law enforcement than they would to other witnesses.
Clad in a blue and white Penn State sweatshirt, one man, who was chosen for the final jury panel, said he had been an auxiliary Penn State police officer for three months but likened the job to that of "a glorified traffic cop."
The alleged victim testified that on the early morning of Oct. 5, Scott, then 22, picked her up at The Saloon, 101 Heister St., where she had gone to visit friends. Once Scott arrived, the woman said they walked back to Scott's Nittany Apartments residence.
The woman testified at the preliminary hearing that she was in Scott's bed and woke to his attempting to have intercourse with her. She said she sat up and turned, attempting to get away, and felt a "jolt" near her right kidney after she saw Scott's arm move back. She said she lay back down, scared Scott would harm her.
The victim was also involved in a different alleged rape case on Oct. 10, 2003.
The woman reported to Bethlehem police that she had been raped in a Moravian College campus dorm by a Moravian College student. The man was charged with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault and simple assault. He was later acquitted of most charges with the remaining charges dropped by the prosecution.
Before the gag order, Karoly said the victim's testimony was "totally unreliable," deeming it an "incredulous story told twice almost precisely four years apart under similar circumstances."
