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A 21-count case that alleges sexual assault, harassment and stalking behavior toward 10 women by a former UW-Madison student will be broken up into six separate trials, a Dane County judge ruled in a written decision issued late Thursday.

With a decision for a separate trial for a later two-count case already decided by another judge, Thursday’s decision means that former student Alec Cook will face seven separate trials as his cases go forward.

Cook, 21, of Edina, Minnesota, was charged last year with 12 counts of varying degrees of sexual assault involving six women, along with other charges that include false imprisonment, disorderly conduct and stalking. In all, the charges involved 10 women.

In his decision, Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke wrote that two counts of stalking involving two women will be tried together; counts of fourth-degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct involving four women would be tried together; and there will be four separate trials involving each of the women who are alleged victims of second- and third-degree sexual assault.

The issue was to be heard at a motion hearing on Friday, but it’s more likely that with Ehlke’s written decision, timing of the six trials to be held before Ehlke will be discussed instead.