Ariel Castro has pleaded not guilty to hundreds of criminal charges, including the kidnapping and rape of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight in Cleveland, Ohio. His defence team said that they are working to avoid an "unnecessary trial" involving the death penalty.

On Wednesday, the 52-year-old Castro, dressed in orange jail jumpsuit with his hands and feet shackled, kept mum and had his head bowed down in court, letting his lawyers speak for him during the brief arraignment session.

He was formally indicted with 329 criminal charges on Friday, including 139 counts of rape, 177 counts of kidnapping, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, three counts of felonious assault, one count of possession of criminal tools, and two counts of aggravated murder related to one act..

The charges only covered events from August 2002, when the first of the women (Knight) disappeared to February 2007. It is likely that more charges would be filed against him.

Last month, three women who were formerly thought to be missing then dead have been rescued after Berry took a chance and screamed for help from neighbours while Castro was away from his home. She and her six-year-old daughter were freed with the help of neighbours Angel Cordero and Charles Ramsay. It was then discovered that two more women were locked inside Castro's home.

According to investigation, Castro kidnapped the three women on separate incidents from 2002 to 2004. He repeatedly restrained them, chaining them to a pole in a basement, to a bedroom heater, or inside a van. He moved them to upstairs rooms where they were kept prisoners and had been forced to submit to his sexual demands.

Police reports also claim that Knight, 32, has had five pregnancies resulting in miscarriages after Castro starved her for at least two weeks and repeatedly punched her in the stomach. Berry, 27, gave birth to a daughter in a plastic pool in the house.

Knight was 21 when she had gone missing in 2002. She was scheduled to appear in court for a child custody case involving her son on the day that she disappeared. Because she was an adult, it was believed that she run away. According to the police report, she accepted a ride home from the suspect, but she was instead driven to his house where she was tied up and beaten.

Berry went missing a day before her 17th birthday in April 2003. Like Knight, she also accepted a ride home from Castro after she got off from her job at Burger King.

DeJesus was 14 when she went missing in April 2004. She had been friends with Castro's daughter, and that they were supposed to have a sleepover at DeJesus's house, but Castro's ex-wife, Grimilda Figeuroa refused to give her daughter permission. Castro allegedly offered DeJesus a ride home to see his daughter, but kidnapped her instead.

His defence team hoped to avoid a trial with a not guilty plea.

"We are very sensitive to the emotional strain and impact that a trial would have on the women, their families, and this community," defence lawyer Craig Weintraub said after the court session. "Mr Castro currently faces hundreds of years in prison with the current charges and it is our hope that we can continue to work towards a resolution to avoid having an unnecessary trial about aggravated murder and the death penalty."

Castro is being held on a $8 million bond.