Attorneys for four Bixby football players are asking, yet again, for the district attorney to be removed from their sexual assault case.

Tuesday's hearing was supposed to be for a judge to determine if there is enough evidence to send Samuel Lakin, Joe Wood, William Thomas and Colton Cable to trial, but, the suspects are not in court.

Instead, Rogers County District Attorney Matt Ballard has been testifying.

Ballard was appointed to the case because the victim’s mother works at the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office, creating a conflict of interest.

Now, attorneys for the four suspects are arguing that Ballard has worked with the victim’s mother in the past and that an assistant prosecutor is friends with the victim’s mother, so they can’t be fair and impartial.

Ballard said he did have a working relationship with the mother but said he doesn’t believe that creates a legal conflict of interest. He also said the assistant prosecutor in question has been removed from the case.

The victim’s mother, the assistant prosecutor, a Bixby police detective who worked the case, and school officials from the Bixby school district are also on the witness list.

News On 6’s Lori Fullbright is in the courtroom and will have more information in tonight’s newscasts.