Jury selection began Tuesday in New London Superior Court in the case of Monte P. White, who is accused of breaking into the homes of two New London women in the fall of 2017 and sexually assaulting them at gunpoint.

White, 34, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of home invasion and risk of injury to minor. Earlier this month, White rejected an offer from the state to plead guilty in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence. He then filed a motion for speedy trial, compelling the state to begin the trial within 30 days.

The trial is expected to begin Nov. 13 before Judge Hunchu Kwak and last four to five days.

Judge Kwak delivered preliminary remarks about jury service Tuesday to a panel of prospective jurors comprising of 12 women and three men.

Defense attorney Matthew G. Berger and Senior Assistant State's Attorney Theresa Anne Ferryman introduced themselves and began interviewing prospective jurors Tuesday morning and over the coming days will select a panel of six regular members and two alternates.

White, wearing a royal blue button down shirt and the pants from his prison scrubs, sat with Berger at the defense table. He is being held in lieu of $1.4 million at the Northern Correctional Institution.

Ferryman, the prosecutor, told the panel that state privacy laws pertaining to victims of sexual assault prohibit the use of the alleged victims' names on the record. She circulated to the jury a sheet of paper containing the full names of the women and asked any of the jurors who recognized the names to notify the court. None did.

The two women are expected to testify at the trial along with police, medical officials and forensic experts.

New London police say their case against White includes DNA linking him to violent sexual assaults of women in their homes on Hawthorne Drive in October 2017 and Nautilus Drive in November 2017. Both women said they were awakened by a man in their bedroom who held a gun to the back of their head and sexually assaulted them. Fingerprint impressions lifted from a sliding glass door also implicated White in the Nautilus Drive crime, police said.

Police said DNA swabs taken during a forensic examination of the female victims matched DNA from White, whose genetic material is in the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database. DNA samples are taken from all convicted felons in Connecticut, and White pleaded guilty to a felony drug possession charge in 2010.

White also is charged with a similar crime in Torrington, which is being tried separately and also involved DNA evidence, according to police.

k.florin@theday.com