An attorney for Ben Roethlisberger said Tuesday his firm has assembled a team of investigators to gather information about sexual assault allegations that have been raised by a 20-year-old college student.

But Attorney Edward T.M. Garland said he believes that Mr. Roethlisberger "is absolutely innocent of criminal misconduct."

"The fans and the people that believe in him should be patient. ... The truth will come out," he said Tuesday in a telephone interview. "The investigating authorities are acting in a responsible matter thus far and I believe they are taking their role very seriously."

Nonetheless, he has his own investigators -- some of whom are former law enforcement officials and some of whom are lawyers -- interviewing witnesses and "studying circumstances."

"Any good lawyer needs to look at every fact, every witness and every circumstance to render proper and good legal advice for anyone he represents," he said.

Meanwhile, the woman in the case has hired attorneys David Walbert and Lee Parks of the firm Parks, Chesin & Walbert in Atlanta. They released a statement Tuesday asking the media "to respect her privacy, keep her name out of the press and allow the family space and time to heal."

They said their client "has done the right thing and reported this matter to police. She has been, and will be, available to the authorities to assist them in the criminal investigation."

The woman, a student at Georgia College & State University, told police early Friday morning that Mr. Roethlisberger, 28, sexually assaulted her at a nightclub near the college campus in Milledgeville, Ga. Police at the scene interviewed Mr. Roethlisberger and members of his party and permitted them to leave.

The woman was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was treated and released.

The Post-Gazette does not name accusers in sexual assault cases.

Though Mr. Garland said he had "confidence in the process," he added that, generally speaking, law enforcement can be hasty in bringing charges without merit when the accused is a celebrity. Mr. Garland has represented celebrities before in criminal matters, including Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who was accused in 2000 of a double murder in Atlanta. Mr. Lewis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice and testified against two co-defendants who were later acquitted.

"It's very dangerous for someone of a celebrity status to have even inference of impropriety," he said.

"It's easier for some investigator to bring the charge than it is to simply dismiss it because they might be accused of being influenced by the celebrity status."

"Therefore, sometimes they proceed with cases that simply should have been closed without merit in order to avoid the claim that the case was dismissed because the person was famous, rich, had a fancy attorney."

Mr. Garland declined to say what his firm's investigation entailed, saying only that his investigators were interviewing witnesses.

"I hope they're not following in (law enforcement's) footsteps, but are ahead of them," he said, when asked if the investigators he had hired would be interviewing the same witnesses police did.

And he added that the fact that his client is a high-profile athlete might make witnesses unreliable.

"Witnesses come out of the woodwork ... they are motivated by a desire to get in front of the camera," he said. "Evidence is therefore very unreliable."

He said Mr. Roethlisberger was not in Georgia on Tuesday, but would not say where he was or when he might be interviewed by police.

Milledgeville police Chief Woodrow W. Blue Jr. said at a news conference Monday that Mr. Roethlisberger and seven other witnesses will be interviewed in the next two to three days. Chief Blue also said police planned to obtain DNA samples as part of their investigation.

Mr. Garland declined to comment on specifics of the police investigation.

"We are cooperating with law enforcement's investigation," he said.

Also Tuesday, KDKA-TV reported that Mr. Roethlisberger was accompanied by two police officers -- a Coraopolis police officer and a Pennsylvania state trooper stationed at the Washington barracks -- early Friday morning. The Pennsylvania State Police confirmed Tuesday that a trooper had been working for Mr. Roethlisberger as a personal assistant, but said that police in Milledgeville had not contacted them to interview the trooper, KDKA reported.

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