BLOOMFIELD -- The trial of a former Davis County High School coach charged with having a sexual relationship with a student got underway Tuesday morning at the Davis County Courthouse in Bloomfield.
Patrick Ryan Nicoletto, 34, is facing one felony count of Sexual Exploitation by a School Employee.
Prosecutors say that what began in the fall of 2007 as harmless texting between Nicolleto and a junior on the girls basketball team soon became a sexual affair.
Lead prosecutor Becky Goettsch acknowledged in her opening statement that the affair, which apparently went on between January 2008 and the girl's graduation in May of 2009, was consensual.
Goettsch says she will offer into evidence direct testimony from the girl in question as well as thousands of text messages that document the relationship.
She also says the evidence will show that both Nicoletto and the girl knew they were playing a dangerous game and went out of their way to hide the affair.
In his opening statement, Nicoletto's attorney, Keith Rigg described the former coach as hardworking and devoted.
He says the text message show nothing more than a girl who had a crush on an older man. Riggs says there is no evidence that Nicoletto and the girl engaged in any sexual conduct.
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