SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — A Michiana man who’s facing his third trial in a triple-murder case won’t face the death penalty if he’s convicted again in the killings.

A St. Joseph County judge, Friday, approved prosecutors’ request that the death penalty option be dropped for Wayne Kubsch.

Prosecutors will instead seek life without parole for the 50-year-old if he’s convicted a third time in the 1998 killings of his wife Beth, her ex-husband Aaron Milewski and their 10-year old son, Rick Milewski.

All three were stabbed to death. The father and son had also been shot in the head inside Kubsch’s Mishawaka home.

Kubsch was twice convicted and sentenced to death in the killings, but both convictions were overturned on appeal.

Kubsch is expected to stand trial a third time next year.