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PROVO — A Utah man who was extradited from Scotland last year to face a 2008 rape charge in Utah County no longer has the option of accepting a plea deal.
A September 2025 trial date was set for Nicholas Rossi in mid-November, but attorneys at that time still said they hoped to resolve the case with a plea deal — one that would address Rossi's charges in Utah County and a separate case in Salt Lake County. In both cases, he is charged with rape, a first-degree felony.
On Tuesday, Rossi's attorney, Daniel Diaz, told 4th District Judge Derek Pullan that discussions about settling the case without trial did not go anywhere, and deputy Utah County attorney Stephen Jones said prosecutors withdrew their plea offer and do not plan to offer it again.
Rossi is accused of raping a 21-year-old woman in Orem in 2008. He was identified as the suspect through a DNA rape kit in 2018 and charged in 2020. Rossi was found and arrested while receiving care in a Scotland hospital under the alias Arthur Knight.
As he was being extradited back to Utah to face charges, a woman in Salt Lake County came forward accusing him of rape. Charges in that case were filed in 2022. It has not yet been set for trial but is scheduled for a hearing on Feb. 21.
In the Utah County case, Pullan set deadlines for motions about who could be called as witnesses at the trial and set a hearing on March 11 for attorneys to argue those motions.
Rossi appeared at the hearing virtually, along with the attorneys, but Pullan told Rossi he wanted him to appear in the courtroom for the March hearing.
