AUSTIN—Defense attorneys are requesting DNA testing of “alternative suspects” in the 1991 yogurt shop murders in which four teenagers were killed.

The testing would determine whether anyone on the defense lawyers’ list, which includes executed serial killer Kenneth McDuff, can be linked to the killings. Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen were convicted in the killings but the verdicts were overturned on appeal and both men are awaiting new trials. No new trial date has been set.

Killed during the robbery at the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt store were Amy Ayers, 13; Eliza Hope Thomas, 17; and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, ages 17 and 15. The store was then set on fire. Defense attorneys Carlos Garcia and Joe James Sawyer on Wednesday also asked state District Judge Mike Lynch to lift a gag order so they can speak more freely to the media about the case. The attorneys contend prosecutors intentionally mishandled evidence to suppress the truth. Garcia and Sawyer said their clients’ innocence was proved this year when previously undiscovered DNA taken from Ayers’ body did not match either suspect. “The state went out and told the public they knew whose DNA this was. They don’t ... and we’re entitled to rebut it,” said Sawyer during the pretrial hearing, the Austin American-Statesman reported Thursday in its online edition.

“I think you just did,” Lynch said. The judge asked Sawyer to file a written motion about lifting the gag order and said a ruling would be forthcoming.

The defense attorneys asked the prosecutors if they planned DNA testing for the alternative suspects. Lynch told prosecutors they did not have to answer, and they did not.

Outside court, Garcia said he wants the alternative suspects’ DNA tested to see if it matches the DNA found on Ayers.