Elster or his attorney indicated to the judgethat Elster might request permission to return toArizona, according to Sprague.
Sprague said that "Harvard's General Counselsuggested that [Elster] take a leave of absence."
Attorneys for the University could not bereached for comment last night.
Sprague and Robert F. Daut, assistant districtattorney in charge of the case, both declined toexplain why Elster was charged with three countsof rape and two counts of assualt and battery.
"Those were the charges that were sought," Dautsaid.
David B. Poole, a clinical instructor at theLaw School's Criminal Justice Institute,speculated that Elster is accused of threeseparate offenses of rape.
"What I assume happened is that there wereallegedly three separate acts which legally couldbe called rape," said Poole, formerly a Bostonpublic defender.
"There [might have been] more than one act ofpenetration," he said. "Rape is any non-consentedsexual penetration."
Poole added that he cannot be sure aboutanything without hearing the full facts of thecase.
He also said the two counts of battery andassault do not necessarily refer to violentactions.
"Assault and battery is an unconsented-totouching. In certain circumstances, grabbinganother person's arm could constitute assault andbattery," he said. "It could be something lessthan striking a blow."
Cambridge District Court does not try rapecases. If the rape charges are not dropped, thecase will move to Cambridge Superior Court forreview.
"He was arraigned in the District Court,"Sprague said. "But we have no jurisdiction overcrimes of this type."
The case is currently being reviewed bySuperior Court prosecutors to see if it should bepresented to the grand jury for indictment, Dautsaid.
The District Attorney will present the facts ofthe case to the grand jury, which will then decidewhether to indict Elster.
The presentation to the grand jury is secret,and the date is not publicized, according toPoole.
If Elster is indicted, he will be arraigned andthen tried in the Superior Court.
Poole said in most cases the defendant isarraigned "a relatively short time" after theindictment.
Sprague said the trial would probably takeplace several months after the Superior Courtarraignment