A DuPage County judge ruled Nov. 29 that a previous rape allegedly committed by Robert Rejda cannot be used as evidence in his trial for last year’s murder of Lauren Kiefer.

Judge Michael Burke denied a motion by State’s Attorney Joe Birkett to allow a jury in the Kiefer case to hear the circumstances of the 2005 rape of an Aurora woman for which Rejda also has been charged.

Burke ruled that there were not enough similarities between the two cases to allow the earlier crime to be used as evidence. Illinois law allows judges to admit a previous crime as evidence in sexual assault cases if they determine it establishes a pattern of criminal activity.

Rejda, 26, of Oakbrook Terrace followed a 27-year-old Aurora woman in October 2005 from a Downers Grove bar to her home, where he sexually assaulted and robbed her, prosecutors said.

He sexually assaulted Kiefer, 24, last Christmas and beat her to death with a baseball bat at her home in unincorporated DuPage County near Oakbrook Terrace, according to authorities.

Rejda called her residence at about 2:30 p.m. while she and her mother were at her sister’s home in Lombard, authorities said. He then broke into the home and waited for her to arrive, attacking her shortly before 6:30 p.m., authorities said.

Paul Darrah, a spokesman for the state’s attorney’s office, said Birkett will file a motion to let the jury hear about the 2005 attack during sentencing if Rejda is convicted of Kiefer’s murder.