SAN DIEGO -- The preliminary hearing for the transient accused of the 1998 murder of Stephanie Crowe resumed Monday with prosecutors playing more of a videotaped police interview with a youth originally charged with the crime.

Attorneys for Richard Tuite, 33 -- who's charged with first-degree murder in the death of the 12-year-old girl on the night of Jan. 20, 1998 -- have argued that the original suspect, Joshua Treadway, killed the girl along with Crowe's brother, Michael Crowe, and Aaron Houser.

To buttress their case against Tuite, prosecutors played for a judge the Jan. 27, 1998, interrogation of Treadway, which they say shows that statements he made in a subsequent interview with Escondido police were coerced.

At the end of the preliminary hearing, Judge Gale Kaneshiro will determine if there is enough evidence to order Tuite to stand trial.

Kaneshiro ruled Friday that lawyers from the state Attorney General's Office -- who are prosecuting the case -- may be allowed to present the 10 to 12 hours of videotape in their rebuttal case at Tuite's preliminary hearing.

The judge ruled earlier that Tuite's attorneys could present "hearsay" evidence pointing to Treadway, Houser, and Michael Crowe 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 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.

Last week, Tuite's attorneys played a Feb. 10, 1998, interview with Treadway in which he told 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 said 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.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Gary Schons said Treadway would be called to the witness stand after the videotaped interview is played.

The prosecutor said he also intends to call an expert on police interrogation and coercion to invalidate Treadway's statements five years ago.

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