Jay D. Decker, 27, faces a Nov. 13 trial on charges of killing his infant daughter, Risha Lafferty, a year ago at Edgewood Homes in East Lawrence. A mistrial was declared on the last day of his original trial this summer because of a police interview that hadn't been sent to prosecutors.

His first murder trial was called off on the last day of testimony after a police interview that had never been sent to prosecutors surfaced.

Now, preparations are under way for a Lawrence man to stand trial a second time in the child-abuse death of his infant daughter.

Jay D. Decker, 27, made a brief appearance Thursday in District Court in preparation for his Nov. 13 trial. Decker is charged with killing his 5-month-old daughter, Risha J. Lafferty, in October 2005 at Edgewood Homes, 1600 Haskell Ave.

On the last day of his trial this summer, attorneys said “new evidence” had surfaced, and Judge Paula Martin declared a mistrial at the defense’s request. What the evidence was has not yet been explained publicly.

But sources familiar with the issue have confirmed it was an interview conducted by the Lawrence Police Department’s detective division with a family acquaintance in Miami County. The witness said the girl’s mother, Brandi Hendrickson, had been physically abusive with the child in the past.

For an unknown reason, that police interview was not forwarded to Dist. Atty. Charles Branson’s office, and neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys knew about it until the day the trial was canceled.

Defense attorneys – who tried during the first trial to implicate Hendrickson in the baby’s death – viewed the interview as significant enough to request a mistrial.

Decker’s defense attorneys, Tom Bartee and Mark Manna, and Branson have said they cannot comment on the case beyond what is said in court. Lawrence Police Sgt. Dan Ward said he couldn’t comment because of departmental policies, which prohibit discussion of pending criminal cases.

On Thursday in court, Bartee mentioned a “new witness” the defense planned to call and said she had been interviewed three times by police: once shortly after the death, and twice recently.