Thursday’s preliminary hearing for a former NIU student charged with criminal sexual assault has been postponed until May 18.

Christopher J. Fette, 22, was charged in December for the Dec. 10 rape of Kimberly A. Howard. Fette, a senior at the time of the incident, is not enrolled at NIU this semester.

The prelimimary hearing will decide if the court will allow the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office to refile the charges.

The court dismissed the charges Dec. 29 after a finding of no probable cause for the charges and because Fette would not be able to face Howard in court due to her death.

Howard was found dead in her apartment on Jan. 5, 1989. An April 5 inquest performed by DeKalb County Coroner Dennis Miller listed the cause of death as “undetermined.”

DeKalb County State’s Attorney Michael Coghlan said his office refiled the charges because the case is similar to a murder case and the defendant does not have to face the victim. “Refiling the charges is allowable under the law,” he said.

At the time of the case’s dismissal, the judge ruled there was not enough evidence indicating force was used in the incident.

Coghlan said Fette’s attorney filed a second motion to dismiss the charges, citing the second round of charges were filed unfairly and in bad faith and that the state is harrassing Fette.

Coghlan said a written response to Fette’s legal counsel explained that when the evidence in a case is strong, “the law allows charges to be refiled.”

“The defense offered the court no facts to support their allegations of harrassment, bad faith and filing the charges unfairly,” Coghlan said.

Fette’s arrest was the result of a joint investigation by the University Police and the DeKalb Police Department.

Coghlan said Fette and Howard had been drinking partners in the past. Fette had contacted Howard the day of the alleged act to buy alcohol and had written Howard a letter apologizing for the incident, he said.