COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP): A judge has ruled that defense attorneys for the man charged with killing four people in a southern Indiana home can't present theories during his trial about someone else committing the slayings.

Bartholomew County Judge Steve Heimann ruled that testimony about other possible killers in the May 2013 deaths would be inadmissible because it's either speculation or hearsay.

Prosecutors are seeking life in prison for 56-year-old Samuel Sallee. He faces four counts of murder for the shooting deaths of a woman and three men in Waynesville, a small community outside Columbus.

Defense lawyer David Nowak tells The Republic that not allowing the alternate killer theories won't break the defense case.

The judge did grant a defense request to delay the start of Sallee's trial until Feb. 16.
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