The attorney of a man charged with the 2007 rape and attempted murder of a graduate student is asking a judge to suppress evidence collected after what he called an "illegal arrest."

Michael A. Kuhn was apprehended Aug. 27, 2007, after police say a woman reported a man loitering outside her 612 Apple Alley apartment and staring in her window.

Attorney Ed Blanarik said Kuhn was detained by an officer who was responding to that call, but the officer did not witness Kuhn committing a crime. As a result of his arrest, Kuhn was also identified as the suspect in a rape earlier that summer.

Blanarik said Kuhn's arrest was made without probable cause or a warrant, and he filed a motion Nov. 14 asking Centre County Judge Thomas Kistler to suppress any evidence collected from Kuhn after he also became the focus of the rape and attempted murder investigation.

According to court documents, an officer noticed Kuhn walking in the area of 601 S. Pugh St., and detained him because he believed there was a similarity between Kuhn and the loitering suspect.

Kuhn was later identified by the woman as the man who was looking in her window, and Kuhn was charged with loitering and prowling and disorderly conduct in connection with the incident, according to court documents.

It was then, court documents indicate, that police began to suspect Kuhn in the July rape of a female graduate student. He matched the description, police said, of a man who had entered the graduate student's apartment on July 4, 2007, raped her multiple times and beat her with a blunt object before fleeing.

State College Police matched Kuhn to a composite sketch of the suspect in the unsolved July rape case and contacted the victim for confirmation, according to court documents.

Kuhn was eventually charged with attempted murder, three counts of rape, four counts of sexual assault, two counts of aggravated assault and 21 other criminal charges, according to court documents.

Blanarik, however, contends his client never should have been arrested in the first place. Police may detain an individual for an investigatory basis only if a crime has been committed in their presence, he said.

Blanarik said three or four police officers and detectives provided additional testimony at a Nov. 24 hearing before Kistler regarding the motion's allegations. He said the prosecution argues police had sufficient reason to arrest Kuhn on Aug. 27, 2007.

Assistant District Attorney Nathan Boob could not be reached for comment as of press time Monday.

Jury selection for the loitering and prowling case will be held Dec. 8, Blanarik said, and he expects Kistler to make a decision before that date.

Kuhn is in Centre County Correctional Facility still awaiting trial on the rape and attempted murder charges.