SAN DIEGO -- Prosecutors trying to prove that a transient killed Stephanie Crowe five years ago can show hours of a videotaped interrogation of one of three boys originally charged with the girl's murder, a judge ruled Friday.

Judge Gale Kaneshiro said prosecutors from the state Attorney General's Office would be allowed to present the 10 to 12 hours of videotape in their rebuttal case in Richard Tuite's preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors said the Jan. 27-28, 1998, interrogation of Joshua Treadway will prove that statements he made in a subsequent interview with Escondido police detectives were coerced.

Kaneshiro must rule whether there is probable cause to order Tuite, 33, to stand trial for the death of the 12-year-old girl the night of Jan. 20, 1998.

Last week, the judge ruled that Tuite could present "hearsay" evidence pointing to Treadway, Aaron Houser, and Michael Crowe, the victim's brother, as the killers.

The three originally were charged with the seventh-grader's murder, but charges were dropped when a DNA test revealed Stephanie's blood on a filthy red shirt Tuite wore the night of the killing.

The case was turned over to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and the state Attorney General's Office three years ago.

A different judge ruled in 1999 that most of the interrogation was coerced, but said some of Treadway's statements were voluntary and would have been admissible at trial.

Attorneys for Tuite played a Feb. 10, 1998, interview with Treadway in which he tells detectives how he knew of plans by Michael Crowe and Houser to kill Stephanie, but didn't think they would go through with it.

Treadway says during the interrogation that Michael Crowe hated his sister and that he and Houser came up with a plan to stab her in her bed.

On the tape, Treadway tells a detective that he went along with his friends' plan because he was afraid of Houser.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Gary Schons told the judge that she needed to view the Jan. 27-28, 1998, interview with Treadway so she could see the statements in context.

"It's like seeing half of a photo," Schons told the judge. "It just doesn't tell the whole story."

Kaneshiro said she would not rule on whether the statements were coerced, but would consider them in her final decision on a possible bindover for trial.

Tuite faces 27 years to life in prison if tried and convicted.