All charges have been dropped against a Butler man accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl last year at his house.

Prosecutors cited a recent state Supreme Court opinion for the decision to withdraw the case against 46-year-old Marc A. Pippens Sr. at his preliminary hearing Monday before District Judge William Fullerton in Butler.

City police March 8 arrested Pippens on felony charges of sexual assault and misdemeanor charges of indecent assault by forcible compulsion, indecent assault without consent and indecent assault of a person less than 16 years old.

“The recent change in the case law affected our ability to move forward on certain cases at the preliminary hearing stage,” said Ben Simon, a county assistant district attorney said Tuesday. “So, we're reviewing our options as to whether we're going to refile in this case or not.”

The case law he referred to was a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling handed down July 22, which was before Pippens was charged.

The opinion — Commonwealth v. McClelland — held that prosecutors cannot use hearsay evidence alone against a defendant at the preliminary hearing level if they want the case to be held for trial.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that appears in Thursday's Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.