Centre County judge upholds key ruling against man accused in 2000 Penn State rape
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Judge denied Rillema's motion to lift default judgment in civil rape case.
- Trial will determine financial damages; Rillema may not contest allegations.
- DNA evidence tied Rillema to 2000 Penn State and 1999 Michigan golf course attacks.
A ruling issued Tuesday by a Centre County judge marked a victory for the woman who brought a lawsuit against the Michigan man she said raped her at knifepoint in 2000 on a golf course near State College.
Centre County Judge Brian K. Marshall denied Kurt A. Rillema’s request to lift a default judgment against him, finding he failed to promptly challenge the judgment or provide a valid legal argument that would have excused the delay.
The lawsuit is expected to move toward a trial solely to determine what Rillema, 53, owes the woman. He may not contest the allegations in the suit. A message left with his attorney was not immediately returned Thursday.
Rillema is also charged criminally in Centre County for the alleged attack. He is awaiting extradition from Michigan, where he pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 10-15 years in prison for a golf course attack there.
“This brings us one step closer to the day our client can prove in court what the defendant did to her, and for that we are grateful,” the woman’s attorney Conor Lamb said in a Thursday text message to the Centre Daily Times.
It was the second time Marshall entered a default judgment against Rillema. The ruling is the equivalent of someone being sentenced in a criminal case without contesting the evidence against them.
In the first instance, Rillema failed to promptly respond to the woman’s May 2023 lawsuit. But the judge later vacated the judgment because of Rillema’s pending bankruptcy proceedings.
He was told to notify Marshall and the woman when the bankruptcy case concluded within five days. It instead took nearly a month, a delay Marshall didn’t excuse.
“The Court acknowledges that Defendant is currently incarcerated and balancing a number of outstanding matters in this Commonwealth and in other states, with different sets of attorneys for each matter,” Marshall wrote. “That does not, however, excuse Defendant’s failure to comply with this Court’s Order requiring that he inform this Court of the conclusion of his bankruptcy matter.”
Centre County prosecutors charged Rillema in April 2023 with the rape of a 19-year-old Penn State student on the university’s golf courses in a case they said was aided by advancements in DNA technology.
The woman was jogging in July 2000 when she said Rillema raped her at knifepoint in a wooded area near the 17th hole of the Blue Course. She said in her lawsuit he was a “complete stranger.”
She reported the alleged crime that night. Penn State police were told in August 2004 that DNA collected from a sexual assault kit matched a profile identified in a similar 1999 attack at a golf course in Michigan, but no suspect was identified for nearly two decades.
After submitting DNA evidence to a private forensic DNA company, investigators believed the Michigan attack was carried out by Rillema or one of his two brothers. They later obtained a discarded Styrofoam coffee cup used by Rillema that prosecutors said proved to be a match.
He was arrested in April 2023 at his home in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield. Investigators said he was an “avid golfer” and owner of a construction company who had no prior criminal history.
He pleaded no contest to criminal sexual conduct in Michigan and is incarcerated at the Lakeland Correctional Facility. His extradition hearing is scheduled for June 18.