A federal judge Tuesday dismissed the civil rights violation portion of a woman's civil lawsuit against Lance Marshall, saying he was not convinced the former Centre County Assistant District Attorney discriminated against the woman because of her gender.

Judge James McClure Jr. also threw out the civil rights violation argument made against Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira and Centre County in the same lawsuit. The remaining points of the lawsuit will now be heard in Centre County court.

"The judge is saying there's no claims against Marshall for civil rights violations, so that's obviously a step in the right direction," said Marshall's attorney, Gary Weber.

The complaint stems from December 2008 when the lawsuit says Marshall, who resigned from his position, sent more than 250 text messages -- some "sexually explicit" -- to a domestic violence victim he represented. The suit also names Madeira and the county because they were Marshall's supervisor and employer, respectively, at the time.

Joseph Green, the attorney for the county, said he is pleased with the dismissal of the civil rights violation aspect of the lawsuit and said he plans to file a motion in the future requesting the entire suit against the county to be dismissed.

"We think that the suit is completely invalid with regard to the county," he said.

Madeira said he's pleased with the judge's decision and called the arguments raised by the woman's attorney, Bernie Cantorna, "baseless."

The remaining complaints surfaced after Marshall was the prosecutor in a domestic violence case involving the woman.

The woman's lawsuit says Marshall unlawfully intercepted her telephone conversations with the man he was prosecuting so Marshall could "pursue [her] sexually."

The suit says that while Marshall acted as prosecutor, he illegally requested the taped conversations from the Centre County prison where the man was being held.

Marshall told the woman he was disappointed that she was discussing getting back together with her assailant, according to court documents.

The woman's attorney, Bernie Cantorna, said he's looking forward to finishing this aspect of the lawsuit in Centre County court.

"It's an opportunity to interview the people who actually know what did or did not happen," Cantorna said. "I'd like to speak to the attorneys that [Marshall] worked with and the victims that he worked with."

As for the civil rights violation complaint being dismissed, Cantorna said he disagrees with the judge. He said he "can't imagine any ... factor" other than the woman's gender that would affect the relationship between Marshall and Cantorna's client.

"If [the victim] were a male, I don't think you or I would be having this conversation about a lawsuit based on sexual harassment," Cantorna said.