Prosecutors will not be allowed to call witnesses to offer testimony about other bad acts at the trial of a Severna Park Elementary School teacher who’s accused of sexually abusing eight students, a judge ruled on Monday.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Pamela K. Alban said she understood why the state wanted to present that evidence against Matthew Schlegel: to show his actions were intentional and not a mistake. But she noted that’s almost built into their case.

“Candidly, the court cannot ignore the fact that there are going to be eight different students coming in,” said Alban, who added that she did not believe the additional evidence would add much “when you look at the case as a whole.”

Alban also determined that prosecutors were barred from calling witnesses to testify that Schlegel was not following the curriculum. She expressed doubts that they had proven that allegation.

But Alban held that there could be scenarios at trial in which the door is opened to that testimony.

Schlegel, 45, of Severna Park, is charged in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court with sexual abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault.

Jury selection is supposed to begin on May 19 in his case. He’s being held in the Jennifer Road Detention Center without bail.

Prosecutors called eight witnesses during a two-day motions hearing, including a 10-year-old girl who testified that Schlegel often rubbed her shoulders and back. She said she also sat on his lap multiple times.

Assistant State’s Attorney Sean Fox contended that testimony including that Schlegel hugged students might not seem unusual when considered alone.

“You have to look at it in the context of this case,” Fox said. “The dissimilarities are few if any at all.”

But at times, their own witnesses seemed to undermine them, especially when prosecutors tried to assert that ithere were irregularities in Schlegel’s classroom.

Tammy Strauss, a special educator at Severna Park Elementary School, testified that she helped one student who had an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, in Schlegel’s class and noticed that children would line up at his desk for assistance.

But Strauss said she did not witness him change his teaching style when the principal observed the class. And she testified that she did not see Schlegel touch any students without their consent.

“Did anyone put any pressure on you to change your testimony?” asked Assistant State’s Attorney Anastasia Prigge, chief of the Special Victim’s Unit in the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office.

“No,” Strauss replied.

Peter O’Neill, one of Schlegel’s attorneys, argued that prosecutors were looking for an additional opportunity to sway the jury.

“They’re piling on,” O’Neill said, “because they have a bad case.”

Their case, he claimed, was already crumbling.