Spartacist Trial

The Third District Court yesterday postponed a probable cause hearing for a South House tutor and a member of the Spartacus Youth League who have charged each other with assault and battery.

At the hearing, now slated for December 16, the state will decide whether to issue complaints against Keith Manning, a Cambridge resident and member of the socialist youth group, and Melanie B. Yun, assistant senior tutor at South.

Yun's attorney, Steven Brooks, said yesterday that he asked for the postponement because of a scheduling conflict.

In her complaint, Yun charges that Manning physically prevented her from entering a November 12 meeting in Harvard Hall, which the Spartacists has publicized as an open forum on Poland.

In a flier distributed last week, the League alleged that Yun was participating in a demonstration outside the building, and that she had provoked and assaulted Manning.

But Yun told reporters that evening that she had been "an innocent bystander." Brooks said yesterday Yun did not begin picketing until after the alleged assault.

Manning could not be reached for comment, and his attorney, Robert Hernandez, did not return telephone calls yesterday.

Yun said yesterday that she would not drop the charges against Manning despite the League's attempt to intimidate her by distributing the flier, which describes her as "a public, bald-faced liar." She refused further comment, citing the pending legal action.