Assault and trespass charges against the estranged wife of newspaper publisher Richard Mellon Scaife have been dismissed.

Ritchie Scaife, 59, was charged in December with trespassing on Mr. Scaife's property on Westminster Place in Shadyside in defiance of a police order.

A district judge ruled that the trespassing charge would be dismissed if Mrs. Scaife did not go to the property again.

She obeyed the judge's order in the case, said her defense attorney, Robert G. DelGreco Jr.

On Wednesday, Mrs. Scaife appeared at a preliminary hearing on charges that on April 7 she attacked three employees of her estranged husband, who is the publisher of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The three said they were attacked by Mrs. Scaife after she saw one of them walking a dog on Amberson Street near another of Mr. Scaife's homes.

She claimed that the dog, named Beauregard, had been removed from her temporary residence by a friend and turned over to Mr. Scaife.

Mr. DelGreco said Mrs. Scaife had the dog from Dec. 23 to March 23, when it was taken.

Police said Mrs. Scaife punched and pulled the hair of Mr. Scaife's maid, Sue Patterson, who was walking the dog.

A security guard, Dennis Bradshaw, said he went to Mrs. Patterson's aid and was slapped. The blow knocked off his eyeglasses and broke them, he said.

Genevieve Still, Mr. Scaife's 77-year-old secretary, said the dog had then gotten loose. As she went to retrieve the animal, she said, Mrs. Scaife pushed her to the ground and kicked her.

Mr. Scaife was not at home at the time of the scuffle.

District Judge Cathleen Cawood Bubash on Wednesday ruled there was no proof of criminal intent on Mrs. Scaife's behalf. She dismissed the assault as well as the trespassing charges.

"They should've given her the dog," Judge Bubash said before making her ruling.

"This is nonsense. I'm not going to participate in this. This is absolute, total nonsense. The case is dismissed. And the other case is dismissed, too."

It may not be over yet, though.

"We're going to review it to see what our options are," Deputy District Attorney Angharad Stock said yesterday.

Prosecutors can refile the assault charges or choose not to pursue the case any further.