SAN DIEGO -- Prosecutors called their first witnesses Thursday in a preliminary hearing for a homeless drifter accused in the killing 5 years ago of 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe.

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Medical Examiner Takes The Stand

San Diego County Chief Medical Examiner Brian Blackbourne (pictured, left) testified on the findings of Crowe's autopsy.

As the hearing for Richard Tuite, 33, began Wednesday, Judge Gale Kaneshiro ruled that a motion seeking information on three teens originally accused of the girl's murder would best be heard at Tuite's trial.

The judge granted a motion to quash subpoenas issued by the defendant's attorney to lawyers for Michael Crowe and his two friends, Joshua Treadway and Aaron Houser.

Michael Crowe, 14 at the time of his sister's slaying, and his two 15-year-old friends were charged shortly after the girl's body was found near her bed the morning of Jan. 21, 1998.

The following year, a judge ruled that most of the "confessions" by Michael Crowe and Treadway were inadmissible at trial because they were coerced.

Attorney Brad Patton unsuccessfully argued that he needed access to reports on Michael Crowe, Treadway and Houser to help clear Tuite's name.

A pathologist who examined a knife found under one of the boys' beds said the weapon -- or one identical to it -- killed Stephanie Crowe, according to Patton.

He said the initial police investigation showed the murder was "an inside job" by more than one person who had knowledge of the Crowe residence.

Tuite, a diagnosed schizophrenic, was seen in the area of the Crowe residence and questioned after the girl's murder, but dismissed as a bumbling prowler incapable of killing anyone.

After retesting, blood stains belonging to the victim were found on a sweatshirt Tuite was reportedly wearing the night the girl was killed.

Patton claimed the blood evidence against Tuite was the result of contamination, but Escondido police reported finding no evidence of that.

Charges against the three boys were dropped, and then-District Attorney Paul Pfingst turned the case over to the state Attorney General's Office.

Tuite was charged last May, after detectives from the Sheriff's Department took over the investigation.

A civil suit filed by the Crowe, Treadway and Houser families against parties involved in the original prosecution of the case is scheduled to go to trial May 12.

The preliminary hearing, expected to last two weeks, will determine if there is probable cause to believe Tuite is guilty of the charges against him and should stand trial.

Tuite faces 27 years to life in prison if convicted.