Reinaldo Rivera attends his final pretrial hearing in Richmond County Superior Court. His capital murder trial is expected to last a long time because of the large number of witnesses. ANNETTE M. DROWLETTE/STAFF

District Attorney Danny Craig said Monday in Richmond County Superior Court that it might take a month to complete Mr. Rivera's death-penalty trial.

The court is expected to hear about 33 separate acts of what attorneys call similar transactions - incidents in which Mr. Rivera is suspected of killing or attempting to pick up women in the Augusta-Aiken area.

On Monday, during Mr. Rivera's final pretrial hearing in Richmond County, Judge Albert M. Pickett ruled prosecutors can introduce witnesses for each of the 33 similar transactions. Prosecution and defense attorneys differ on how the incidents should be described.

"My main difficulty ... is the DA's insistence that approaching women is a crime," said attorney Peter Johnson, who, along with Jacque Hawk, is representing Mr. Rivera.

Mr. Craig countered that, according to Mr. Rivera's confessions, it is clear he saw the women he approached as potential crime victims.

Mr. Rivera, who has been held without bond since his arrest, has pleaded innocent to all charges.

In Richmond County, Mr. Rivera faces charges stemming from the June 29, 2000, sexual assault on Tabatha L. Bosdell, 17; the Sept. 4, 2000, fatal attack of Army Sgt. Marni M. Glista, 21; and the Oct. 10, 2000, attack of an Augusta teen-ager.

Mr. Rivera also faces a charge in South Carolina in the 1999 rapes and killings of Melissa Dingess, 17, and Tiffaney Wilson, 17.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or shodson@augustachronicle.com.