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 charges were filed after police were notified Nov. 1, 2019, of a ChildLine report involving the sexual assault of a child, investigators said.

The girl later underwent a forensic interview, recounting what happened, police said. She told the interviewer that she was in a house in Butler, sometime between Oct. 18 and 20, when Pippens allegedly assaulted her.

The girl told authorities that she did not want to have sex with Pippens, according to court documents.

Pippens was arraigned on charges and released on nonmonetary bail.

But Ben Simon, a county assistant district attorney who originally signed off on the charges, said the decision was eventually made to withdraw the charges.

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

He declined further comment on the decision.

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.

The ruling overturned a 2015 state Superior Court opinion — Commonwealth v. Ricker — that allowed merely hearsay testimony to be presented before a district judge, who decides if there is sufficient evidence to move a criminal case to Common Pleas Court.

The prior opinion was a constant thorn in the side of defense attorneys, who argued the law denied them the opportunity to question victims and other witnesses because often prosecutors only had to call a police officer to testify at a preliminary hearing.

Pippens' attorney, public defender Michael McFarland, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.