Jerome Barrett, 61, will go on trial Wednesday for the alleged murder of 19-year-old Vanderbilt student Sarah Des Prez almost 34 years ago.

Des Prez was found dead in her off-campus apartment in February 1975. The trial is scheduled to last through Saturday at Davidson County Criminal Court.

Barrett is charged separately with the murder of 9-year-old Girl Scout Marcia Trimble, who went missing from her Green Hills home the same month Des Prez was killed. He will face trial in July for this charge.

"The trial is at 8:30 (a.m.) tomorrow and is expected to go until 6 (p.m.) each night. The jury is sequestered, so it's going to be longer because they don't have to be somewhere afterwards," said Susan Niland, spokeswoman for the Davidson County district attorney's office.

The jury was chosen from Chattanooga because the murders were highly publicized in the Nashville area.

Barrett was indicted on charges of premeditated murder and felony murder in the Des Prez case. The felony murder charge was dropped during a pretrial hearing on Friday because the prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence to prove Des Prez was raped at the time of her murder.

Judge Steve Dozier granted Barrett's attorney's request to leave out information about the Trimble case and prior criminal history in order to avoid prejudicing the jury.

Barrett went to prison in 1976 after being convicted for rape in 1975. He was also convicted on sexual assault in 1974. After serving a little over 25 years, Barrett was released in 2002.

Another pretrial hearing on Tuesday determined if the jury would hear from Barrett's former inmates, who claimed to have arguments with Barrett in which he said he killed four people.

Police arrested Barrett last year after they said his DNA matched evidence from the Des Prez and Trimble cases.

The DNA evidence is the oldest Nashville prosecutors have ever attempted to use, according to The Tennessean.

Barrett will be tried under 1975 statutes, the year in which the crimes were committed. According to these guidelines, Barrett is ineligible for the death penalty.

Unlike modern trials in which a jury reaches a verdict and the judge decides the sentence (except in capital cases), the jury will decide innocence or guilt, as well as how much time Barrett should serve in prison if convicted.

The Tennessean contributed reporting to this article.