NORTHAMPTON — A Northampton District Court judge has denied a request for four separate trials — one for each alleged victim — for former Hampshire Regional High School girls basketball coach Richard Moussette.

Moussette, 56, of Holyoke, was charged with five counts of open and gross lewdness after allegedly “posing” nude for teenaged friends of his daughter staying overnight at his home between 2009 and 2012. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in Northampton District Court in January. A sixth charge of open and gross lewdness was dismissed in February.

Judge W. Michael Goggins denied a defense request for separate trials Friday afternoon following a hearing earlier that day.

Moussette’s attorney Shawn Allyn argued in court that Moussette has “a constitutional right to a fair trial,” and that there would be no way Moussette would receive a fair trial if the complaints of the four alleged victims were combined.

“These individuals had colluded” on their accounts, Allyn said of the alleged victims.

Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Lori Odierna countered that the defense’s argument amounted to “my chances of acquittal are better in four separate trials.”

Moussette allegedly exposed himself to four girls, ages 15 to 17 at the times of the incidents, visiting his Southampton home between 2009 and 2012.

The girls, all high school students, submitted written statements in which they all described the same basic narrative: When the girls had to get up in the night to use the restroom, they would find Moussette standing in his bedroom doorway across the hall, completely nude — “posing.”

Moussette vehemently denied the allegations during interviews with police.

A status conference is scheduled for July 11.

In October 2015, Moussette pleaded not guilty to two counts of open and gross lewdness after he was accused of masturbating in the Target store at the Holyoke Mall.

In December 2016, prosecutors dropped one of the counts, and the other was continued without a finding until December 2018 after Moussette admitted to sufficient facts. Moussette resigned his coaching position after the 2015 Holyoke Mall allegations were brought to light.

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