FARGO (AP) - Two earlier sexual assault convictions can be used against Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. if he is convicted in the death of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, a judge says.

In the ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson said prosecutors may use similarities between 1974 sexual assault cases and Sjodin's disappearance and death in seeking the death penalty if Rodriguez is convicted in the Sjodin case.

The federal court trial for Rodriguez, 53, of Crookston, Minn., begins with jury selection July 6 in Fargo. He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of kidnapping resulting in the death of Sjodin, 22, of Pequot Lakes, Minn.

The 1974 assaults and allegations related to Sjodin's 2003 disappearance are similar because they involve college-age women who were taken to secluded areas and assaulted after they left public places alone and went to their vehicles, the judge wrote.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty in 1974 to separate accounts of attempted rape and aggravated rape and was sentenced to prison for up to 15 years.

Erickson ruled out the use of two other earlier cases by prosecutors in seeking the death penalty if Rodriguez is convicted in Sjodin's death. Erickson said a 1979 case could not be used because Rodriguez was not convicted in that case, and a 1980 conviction for attempted kidnapping and assault could not be used because neither relate to a sexual act.

In another ruling Monday, Erickson rejected a defense request to reconsider an order that Rodriguez's attorneys turn over names of his mental health experts to government attorneys.