NORTH HAVERHILL — The criminal case against a Dartmouth College alumnus who is charged with allegedly raping and strangling an 18-year-old woman on campus in 2022 is “likely” going to trial and the defense “may” argue that the encounter was “consensual.”

Kyle Clampitt, 25, a member of the Dartmouth class of 2020, was indicted and charged last year on 12 counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of strangulation. The attack is alleged to have occurred at the Theta Delta Chi fraternity located off West Wheelock Street in April 2022.

James Reis, Clampitt’s attorney, told the Valley News following a brief status conference hearing at Grafton Superior Court on Monday morning that there is “likely to be a trial” in the case in “late September (or) early October.”

Status conferences are procedural hearings intended to inform the court on where the prosecution and defense stand in the case and to advise the court of mutually agreeable future court dates, and whether they believe a plea agreement is in the works or the case appears headed to trial.

On Sunday, Clampitt’s attorney also filed a “notice of intent” with the court that Clampitt “may assert the defense of consent ... specifically, any alleged contact, sexual or otherwise, between the complaining witness and Mr. Clampitt was consensual,” citing a provision in the state’s criminal code.

The Grafton County grand jury indictments allege that on April 23, 2022, Clampitt, who was listed at 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds in his senior year lacrosse team profile, overpowered the victim with “superior physical strength,” and kicked and strangled her while ignoring her pleas of “no” and “stop.”

In hiring Reis, of Portsmouth, N.H., Clampitt has turned to a criminal defense attorney who has only limited appearances in Grafton County court but has extensive criminal defense experience in the superior courts of Rockingham and Strafford counties. Reis has handled several sexual assault cases that have led to reduced or dropped charges against clients.

In a 2020, Rockingham County case involving a 63-year-old man charged with 13 different counts of sexual assault and two counts of witness tampering, all but four the charges were dismissed in 2023, according to state court records.

And in 2020, also in Rockingham County, Reis defended a 73-year-old man charged with seven felony counts of sexual assault. All seven charges were dismissed last April, court records show.

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.