A judge is expected to rule next week on whether attorneys for a man charged with murdering his infant daughter last year will be allowed to use statements from a witness who says she once saw the baby’s mother handle another baby roughly.

It’s part of the defense for Jay D. Decker, 27, because his attorneys have tried to shift blame for Risha Lafferty’s death to the girl’s mother, Brandi Mae Hendrickson.

Decker made a brief appearance Thursday morning in District Court. During the roughly half-hour hearing, a friend of his, Lorna Henson, from Miami County testified that she’d seen Hendrickson handle the couple’s older child roughly in late 2003 and 2004, but that she didn’t consider what she saw to be child abuse.

Decker is due back in court Nov. 3, when Judge Paula Martin is expected to rule on whether the testimony can be used.