A 30-year-old charged in connection to two rapes last spring in north Lincoln will have his case split into two trials at least, a district judge has ruled.

Armon Dixon may face a third trial for allegedly assaulting an officer the day police arrested him.

District Judge Jodi Nelson took the request about the third trial under advisement Wednesday afternoon at the end of a second afternoon of hearing pretrial motions in the case.

In the original motion, attorney Shawn Elliott had said not severing the charges would be prejudicial to his client, and a joint trial wasn't warranted because the charges didn't share sufficient similarity or arise from the same act.

Deputy County Attorney Pat Condon did not object to severing the two felony rape allegations.

So Nelson granted the request.

Dixon is set to go to trial March 1 on allegations that he raped and robbed a clerk at Casey's General Store, 5500 Superior St., on March 21.

The woman told police a masked man wearing latex gloves grabbed her from behind when she got to work around 5 a.m. He said he had a gun and forced her behind the store, tied her hands behind her back and raped her. Then he used her keys and security code to get into the store and the safe and leave with cash.

A second trial would follow on charges alleging that on April 23 Dixon forced his way into a woman's apartment, raped her and held her and her 3-year-old son captive for 10 hours.

Depending on Nelson's ruling, the second trial also could include third-degree assault on an officer.

Police say Dixon tried to grab a police investigator's handgun during a May 12 interview.

Condon said he didn't see the prejudice of Dixon being tried on that charge at the second trial.

Reach Lori Pilger at 473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.