A BU freshman accused of attempted rape was released Thursday afternoon on his own recognizance by a county judge in Binghamton after a reporter called the judge’s chambers the day before to inquire about the student’s legal status.

William Marulanda Jr., 20, had been held in the Broome County Jail for more than two weeks — since Sat., Oct. 15, when the campus police arrested him on a felony charge. His arrest followed a female student’s allegation that a man attacked her and tried to have sex with her in a Digman Hall dorm as she walked to the restroom; the victim said she fended the man off and wasn’t injured.

Marulanda denies the criminal charges, but no one representing him seems to have asked the court during his two weeks in jail to rule whether he could be released.

Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, but court procedures require a defendant’s lawyer to petition for bail. According to the deputy court clerk, Marulanda’s court-appointed attorney hadn’t requested the bail hearing until the reporter’s call to the court inquiring about Marulanda.

“They hadn’t called yet — for whatever reason, I don’t know,” the clerk said.

Less than 24 hours after the reporter’s phone call, Marulanda was ordered to be released by Judge Patrick H. Matthews. Marulanda left jail at 1:30 p.m., according to the jail’s inmate records.

“The court ROR’d him,” a records clerk said, using law-enforcement jargon for “released on his own recognizance.”

Cheryl Mancini, the Broome assistant district attorney handling Marulanda’s prosecution, declined to comment on the specifics of the pending case, citing office policy. But she said she didn’t know why Marulanda’s public defender didn’t initiate a bail hearing.

“You’d have to ask his attorney — the public defender that’s representing him,” she said.

The Broome County public defender’s office didn’t return calls seeking comment Thursday afternoon.

Marulanda was arraigned in Vestal Town Court the Saturday he was arrested, said Capt. Donald A. Chier, one of the investigators handling the case for BU’s New York State University Police, but town courts don’t usually set bail for felony cases.

The felony charges against Marulanda are still pending in Broome court.

“The charge stands as is,” Chier said.

The University police received the rape kit, forensic evidence collected from a rape victim, from the hospital.

“We have it in evidence, but it hasn’t been forwarded to the lab,” Chier said.

The kit will be sent soon, he added, and is likely to be used as evidence against Marulanda in court.

If convicted of felony attempted rape, Marulanda faces up to 15 years in prison. If the campus judicial system finds him responsible on rape charges, the penalties range from suspension to expulsion. Legal and University proceedings are handled separately: a person can be exonerated in court and still be found responsible on campus.

Marulanda met with Lloyd M. Howe, dean of students, several hours after his release. Dean Howe gave Marulanda written permission to remove possessions from his Digman Hall dorm room this afternoon accompanied by Residential Life staff.

Marulanda said he has a meeting tomorrow with Rodger Summers, vice president for student affairs. Except for these meetings, Marulanda said, he isn’t allowed anywhere on campus until the sex assault allegations are resolved. He’s staying with a friend who lives off campus.