As a Penn State instructor readies to go to trial on assault charges next month, his attorney said a judge is prohibiting him from gathering police evidence that could change the jury's perception.
Eliot Preschutti, 35, was hired to teach THEA 297D (Comedic Improvisation) this fall. Charged last year with assaulting his former girlfriend, he now also faces charges that he later tried to intimidate her into dropping the case, according to court documents.
Defense attorney Brian Manchester said the judge denied his request to obtain State College Police Department reports from a separate 2008 incident that Manchester said would show a different side of the woman pressing charges against his client.
Manchester said the woman slashed Preschutti with a broken bottle on Oct. 17, 2008 and assaulted him again on Dec. 6, 2008.
"If it would have been a man cutting a woman with a bottle, he would have been thrown in jail," Manchester said. "She cut him, and they only gave her the equivalent of a traffic ticket."
Now, Manchester will have to file another motion for the evidence and stand before another judge -- which he said is wasting time before the trial begins.
"The law is being very one-sided against my client," Manchester said. "I'm disappointed."
The charges stem from a December domestic dispute between Preschutti and the woman, a former girlfriend, police said.
Preschutti was charged Dec. 6 with felony aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment and criminal mischief, according to court documents.
Police said a domestic dispute was reported by the woman's daughter at a Pike Street residence in December and the assailant fled the scene before police arrived.
According to court documents, the woman was hit with pots and pans and was struck over the head with a thick wooden bowl.
The woman told police she was knocked unconscious during the assault, police said.
The woman was transported to Mount Nittany Medical Center with injuries to her left forearm, left ear and knee, caused by a fall during the assault, police said.
On Aug. 15, Preschutti was charged with four counts of victim intimidation and one count of retaliation against a victim, according to court documents.
In March of this year, Preschutti asked a friend who works at an undisclosed bar to never serve the woman, according to court documents.
He also said she is "insane,"according to court documents.
According to the recent charges, Preschutti told friends and family members to relay threatening messages to the woman between December 2008 and April 2009.
Preschutti's trial for the assault charges is scheduled to begin Nov. 16.
Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira could not be reached for comment by press time Thursday.
