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The jury in a child sex abuse case involving a former cheer coach and biology teacher in the San Ramon Valley was entering what a judge described as “part 2” of the trial Friday after reaching verdicts on a majority of charges earlier that day.
Jurors found Nicholas Moseby guilty of two felony counts – a lewd act upon a child and sending or showing harmful material to a minor – two misdemeanor counts of child molestation, and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery. They found him not guilty of one felony count of lewd act upon a child under the age of 14, and could not reach a verdict in another felony count for a lewd act upon a child.
While jurors had anticipated that the verdict would mark the end of the six-week long trial – having come in to deliberations early and taken only short lunch breaks in recent days, according to the judge for the case – they were informed after presenting the verdict that the earlier portion of the trial was “part 1,” with a “part 2” introduced Friday afternoon.
That part consists of reaching a verdict on four different aggravating circumstances. The prosecution is arguing that the victim of the two felony acts Moseby was found guilty of was “especially vulnerable,” that the abuse was conducted with “sophistication and planning” on Moseby’s part, that he maintained a position of authority and trust over the victim, and that the guilty verdicts mark an escalation of his previous criminal conviction for public intoxication in 2009.
According to Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Joni Hiramoto, who has presided over the trial, the court would have to organize a new jury if the current one failed to finish deliberations as of Friday, with one juror set to travel out of the country the following day.
Moseby, who has been out of custody since late 2022 on $200,000 bail, is set to remain out of custody prior to sentencing. The sentencing hearing in the case was not scheduled as of Friday.
