A rerun of the sitcom "Home Improvement" may be a key piece of evidence against Richard Tuite in the murder of Stephanie Crowe, prosecutors said at a preliminary hearing Friday.

A broadcast of the Tim Allen comedy could establish a timeline that implicates Tuite in the fatal stabbing while clearing her brother and two friends.

Stephanie's younger sister, Shannon, 15, told a detective this week that she remembered her 12-year-old sister watching an episode of "Home Improvement" as she ate a salad Jan. 20, 1998, the night of her murder. A coroner testified earlier in the hearing that the contents of Stephanie's stomach indicated she was stabbed to death two and a half to three hours after eating.

According to sheriff's detective Victor Caloca, who took the stand Friday holding a television schedule from the date of the murder, Stephanie could have watched either of two episodes showed that evening, the latest ending at 8 p.m.

That timeline is consistent with other prosecution evidence that the murder occurred between 10 and 11 p.m. Neighbors spotted Tuite, a 33-year-old drifter, in the area of Crowe's home at about 9:45 p.m. that night and a patrol officer noticed someone closing a side door of the house just before 10 p.m.

The defense contends that Michael Crowe, then 14, and his friends, Joshua Treadway and Aaron Houser, both 15, killed Stephanie. Treadway and Crowe confessed to the crime, but then recanted, saying they had been coerced. In his confession, which the defense insists is true, Treadway put the murder at 12:30 a.m.

Tuite's lawyer Brad Patton seized on a third airing of "Home Improvement" ending at 9:30 p.m., but Coloca said Shannon Crowe believed she was preparing for bed by the time that episode came on.

Patton suggested the Crowe family, which has filed a civil suit against the law enforcement agencies who originally targeted Michael, had reason to lie about which episode Stephanie watched. He pointed out that Shannon told police immediately after the murder that she stayed awake until 10 p.m.

Coloca acknowledged the inconsistency, but said he decided not to confront Shannon about it.

"I wasn't going to argue with her or try to put words in her mouth. I was real concerned about that," Coloca admitted.

Judge Gale Kaneshiro, who will decide whether there is enough evidence to try Tuite for murder, ruled Friday that prosecutors can present evidence suggesting the teenagers' confessions are false.

Prosecutors Gary Schon and David Druliner said they plan to call Treadway as a witness as well as Richard Leo, an expert in coerced confessions who has called the interrogations in the Crowe case "a textbook example of police misconduct and illegality."

Kaneshiro also agreed to review additional videotape of a 12-hour police interrogation of Treadway.