An investigation into whether State Police officers sexually assaulted a Rider University student in December ended yesterday without criminal charges.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan announced that the case was closed. He declined to elaborate, but lawyers involved in the case said it was terminated without being brought before a grand jury.

"The actions here were not criminal. They just weren't. And the fact that (the prosecutor's office) did not present it to a grand jury underscores that fact," said Jay Fahy, the lawyer for one of seven troopers who were suspended with pay during the investigation.

The 25-year-old student alleged she was assaulted by several men, including one or more off-duty troopers, at the Ewing Township home of one of the officers after a night of drinking in a Trenton nightclub.

The woman cried yesterday when told that the case was being dropped, said her lawyer, Nat Dershowitz.

"She was extremely disappointed. She has gone through not only initial rape, but this whole process has taken a very serious toll on her," Dershowitz said. "She understands that prosecutions of cases of this type are difficult, but they (the authorities) certainly could have -- and should have -- had enough evidence to proceed."

Kaplan declined any comment, citing concerns for privacy and fairness and the possibility that the State Police will bring administrative charges against the troopers.

Fahy said he anticipates the troopers will face an internal investigation, though they are planning to return to work Monday. In a joint statement, he and the lawyers for the other six troopers cited the prosecutor's decision as vindication.

"Our clients are elated that they have been completely exonerated. They look forward to resuming their careers and their lives," the statement said.

Dershowitz said the victim is considering whether to file a civil lawsuit or a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Attorney's Office. That decision should be made within coming weeks, he said.

 Davy Jones, president of the state troopers union, said last night that "this has been a painful and trying period for all concerned," adding that "no stone was left unturned in a matter of such sensitivity and seriousness."

But Dershowitz said the probe was flawed from its earliest stages.

"When you have a situation involving the State Police, you -- the state prosecutors -- have an obligation to undertake a much greater investigation. I am not comfortable that that was done here," Dershowitz said.

"If you get somebody drunk or you take advantage of somebody who's drunk, there's a lack of consent," he said. "I understand that it's a tough case to prosecute, but that doesn't mean that tough prosecutors don't know how to do it."

Dershowitz disclosed some details of the woman's accusations for the first time. He said she and a female friend went to the Ewing Township home, where she was sexually assaulted by more than one state trooper. "Many more than one," he said.

Within hours, he said, the victim went to a hospital and reported the assault.

He was especially critical that prosecutors did not ask the victim to identify the alleged perpetrators until months after she filed her first report. And he said he was concerned that investigators lost a step when the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office was forced to drop the case and hand it off to Kaplan's office.

State Attorney General Anne Milgram reassigned the case to Middlesex hours after Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini was quoted in The Star-Ledger saying, among other things, that the case is "a nightmare ... The puzzle is complex. Any prosecutor who would look for this type of case, I think, has a psychological problem."

Milgram declined to comment yesterday.

Dershowitz said the incident led his client to quit school, though she may return in the coming months. He said she is still unwilling to be named publicly, but may make a public statement in the future.

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