A judge on Thursday dismissed a motion to drop charges against a caregiver accused of physically abusing a mentally disabled client.

The decision by Judge Michael Malone set the stage for a trial later this year for Eric S. Wyatt, 35, a former employee of Community Living Opportunities.

Prosecutors say Wyatt has confessed to acts including pinching the man’s cheeks together and striking him with a shoe.

Wyatt’s attorney, Michael Clarke, had asked that charges be dismissed on the grounds of selective prosecution, saying his client was being targeted unfairly for acts that are all too common across the state but rarely bring about criminal charges.

He also suggested Wyatt, a former employee of Community Living Opportunities, was being singled out for reporting deficiencies at a different home operated by the agency.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Rex Beasley, who is prosecuting the case, called the motion the actions of a “desperate man” who knows he’s likely to be convicted at trial, given that he has made a written confession. He wrote in a motion that his office’s staff didn’t know until after Wyatt was charged that he had reported previous problems at the agency.

Malone dismissed Clarke’s motion on Thursday and scheduled Wyatt’s trial for Aug. 14. A co-defendant, Dustin D. Taylor, 21, is scheduled for trial June 19.

Both men are accused of mistreating a 57-year-old man at Ponderosa House, a licensed intermediate care home in the 1200 block of East 26th Street.