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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Tracy Guthrie battled nine years to hear the news she received this summer.

After a series of legal delays and contradictory rulings by lower courts, the Indiana Supreme Court decided she would tell her story to a jury.

The unanimous July 12 decision allows Guthrie to go forward with her lawsuit against Indiana University chapter of Delta Tau Delta, and may bring changes and set legal precedents that affect local Delts' members, fraternities nationwide and any private property owners.

Guthrie was an 18-year-old freshman when she was sexually assaulted by Joseph P. Motz during a Homecoming party at the fraternity Oct. 14, 1990. She was known then as Tracy Johnson; she has since married.

In her first public interview about the sexual assault and lawsuit, Guthrie said late Wednesday evening her goal with the litigation is and has always been to seek justice and a public apology for the actions of Motz and the fraternity. She filed suit after being dissatisfied with the plea bargain Motz received; he pleaded guilty to sexual battery and served a year of house arrest.

"It was extremely frustrating," Guthrie said. "We had a taped confession. I had practiced in the (witness) box and the day before the trial he gets this plea bargain. He just had to sit at home; he didn't have to sacrifice anything."

She said the entire process left her feeling powerless.

"I just wanted control over something," she said. "I would never pursue this for money. Initially, all I wanted was an apology and for the members to stand up and be responsible men. If there is any financial gain it will go to a rape crisis fund."

Guthrie added that she has nothing against the greek system. She was in Zeta Tau Alpha, and her husband was in Pi Kappa Alpha while they attended the university.

Guthrie arrived at 10 p.m. Oct. 13, 1990 at the Delts' Homecoming party with some of her friends. At midnight she encountered Motz, an acquaintance she worked with in a department store the previous summer. She and her friends were separated and eventually they left without her. Motz, a former Delts vice president, was staying at the house during his visit and offered to drive her home but only after he sobered up.

They waited together in a room upstairs listening to music, where they both consumed some hard liquor and talked. At about 3:30 a.m., Guthrie again got up and searched through the house for a ride. After she was unsuccessful, Motz once again offered to take her home. But soon after he locked the two of them in the room.

He then sexually assaulted her.

Guthrie eventually made it back to her dorm where she was comforted by friends who urged her to report the crime to the police. She said after reporting the assault, the fraternity began intimidating and harassing her.

"Instead of admitting this guy was wrong for raping me, they banded together against me," Guthrie said. "They would leave threatening notes on my car and messages on my answering machine. If I was walking past the Arboretum, or getting a Coke in the union, they would bump into me and yell at me."

She said the intimidation almost made her leave the university.

"I wanted to quit," she said. "They protected this guy and were lashing out at me. I dug my heels in. All I wanted was for them to be responsible men, instead of animals."

She said the emotional toll of the abuse and assault damaged her forever. She has suffered nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety attacks and depression.

"Not a day goes by that I don't think about what happened," Guthrie said. "The 13th is coming up, and it will be nine years; this is a large portion of my life. It has been a long road, but I'm glad I stuck it out."

Suzanne Pauwels, a counselor at the Sexual Assault Crisis Service, said reactions similar to Guthrie's are common among rape victims.

"You have to remember rape and sexual assault isn't a crime of sex - it is a crime of violence, power, control and domination," she said.

Pauwels said there is always emotional trauma after a sexual assault.

"There is trauma, I guarantee you there is trauma in every instance."

The suit was filed in 1992 against Motz and the local and national chapters of Delts. On a defense motion of summary judgment, the district trial court ruled that her suit could proceed against all three parties.

The fraternity appealed the decision, and it was reversed in 1995 at the State Court of Appeals. The judgment removed both local and national chapters of Delts from the suit.

Guthrie's attorneys then appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court, which in its ruling this summer reinstated the local chapter of Delts as a party to the suit, but declined to reinstate the national organization.

With this opinion, the court set up a new legal test to determine if landowners owed a "duty of reasonable care" to their guests. This was one of three different cases considered and ruled upon by the court regarding a landowner's responsibility to protect customers or guests from assaults by third parties.

Duty of reasonable care means landowners with a history of criminal incidents on their property, even if committed by a third party, can be held accountable for not taking steps to prevent future incidents.

The Court applied this legal test to the Guthrie suit, as well as a case involving a series of violent crimes in a South Bend Kroger parking lot, and a rape at Evans Scholars at Purdue University.

In the Kroger decision, the Court ruled that the supermarket could be held liable for a violent attack that occurred in its parking lot after past incidents in the lot were not confronted.

On the other hand, in the case of Evans Scholars, the Court ruled that the fraternity could not foresee the sexual assault because no prior incidents occurred that would suggest a dangerous environment for guests.

In Guthrie's case, the Court ruled that Delts owed Guthrie a duty of reasonable care because of two hazing incidents at Delts in the two years prior to Motz assaulting Guthrie. In addition, the fraternity was supplied pamphlets and information about rape and sexual assault a month prior to the incident.

In the court's decision, Justice Myra Selby wrote that the Supreme Court justices "believe to hold that a sexual assault in this situation was not foreseeable, as a matter of law, would ignore the facts and allow DTD to flaunt the warning signs at the risk of all its guests."

Guthrie's attorney said he was extremely happy with the decision, even after four years of waiting.

"We feel like we've made the law as to what duty a landowner owes their guests," said George Patton, Jr., of Bose McKinney & Evans of Indianapolis. "There were prior incidents, and we believe a reasonable person would've taken some precautions to prevent what happened."

Delts' lead counsel said he was disappointed, but was more concerned about the upcoming trial.

"I disagree with their decision, but there's not much I can do about it," said Douglas B. King of Wooden & McLaughlin in Indianapolis. "There was nothing that (Delts) could've done to prevent this. We didn't know she was in any danger, and we didn't do anything wrong. It sounds simple, but that's the bottom line."

Guthrie said she's confident a good result will come from the trial.

"They should realize by now that I'm not giving up," she said. "They hope people like me give up after a while. The whole story will come out and if the jury says they are responsible for what happened, then maybe someone somewhere else will be protected where I wasn't."