By Associated Press, 07/18/02

BOSTON -- State prosecutors asked a judge Thursday to allow 22 alleged Geoghan victims to testify at his upcoming trial in the alleged molestation of a Boston boy in the 1990s.

Prosecutor David Deakin argued that testimony from other alleged victims would show a pattern of conduct from the early 1960s through the mid-1990s.

Defense attorney Geoffrey Packard argued that the other victims' claims are different from the claims made by the boy and would be prejudicial for the jury to hear at the upcoming trial.

The boy, now 17, alleges that Geoghan molested him just before performing his sister's baptism in 1993 and then repeatedly in 1995 and 1996. Geoghan is charged with indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Margaret Hinkle did not immediately rule. She set a trial date of Oct. 15.